ISS - Expedition 65 Mission patch.
August 18, 2021
All seven Expedition 65 crew members are gearing up three spacewalks the first of which is set to start next week. Two astronauts will go on the first spacewalk then two cosmonauts will conduct the second and third spacewalks. The other three crewmates will provide support to the spacewalkers.
Image above: Spacewalker Thomas Pesquet is attached to the tip of the Canadarm2 robotic arm to install the station’s second new solar array on June 25, 2021. Image Credit: NASA.
The first spacewalk on Aug. 24 will see Commander Akihiko Hoshide and Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei spend about six hours and 50 minutes setting up the Port-4 (P4) truss structure for future Roll-Out Solar Array installation work. They will install a modification kit on P4 that prepares the site for the third of six new solar arrays planned for the station.
Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Thomas Pesquet reviewed their spacewalk support roles today including controlling the Canadarm2 robotic arm and helping the duo in and out of their U.S. spacesuits. Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough also spent several hours Wednesday morning assembling the solar array modification kit that Hoshide and Vande Hei will install next week.
Image above: The International Space Station’s solar arrays provide power for the orbiting laboratory. NASA will install a total of six new roll out solar arrays in front of the existing arrays at 1A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4A, and 4B to augment the power. During the Aug. 24 spacewalk, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and astronaut Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will install the modification kit on the 4A power channel, where the next new roll out solar array will be installed in 2022. Image Credit: NASA.
On the other side of the station in the Russian segment, cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov are preparing for two of their own spacewalks planned for early September. They are continuing to organize their spacewalk tools and equipment in the Poisk module‘s airlock. The duo will exit Poisk for both excursions and ready the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module for science operations.
Related links:
Expedition 65: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition65/index.html
Port-4 (P4) truss structure: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/truss-structure
Canadarm2 robotic arm: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/mobile-servicing-system.html
Poisk module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/poisk-mini-research-module-2
Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.
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