NASA astronauts conduct spacewalk outside of International Space Station
Josh Cassada, Frank Rubio tasked with installing new solar arrays to the orbiting lab
Two NASA astronauts conducted a spacewalk on Thursday to install new solar arrays on the International Space Station (ISS), days after space debris forced the event’s delay.
Astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio ventured outside the orbiting lab early Thursday morning and were expected to take about seven hours to complete their task of installing a new ISS Roll-Out Solar Array, the fourth of six structures pegged for the orbiting station’s exterior. When all six are up and running, the lab’s power will increase by 20 percent to 30 percent, NASA officials said.
Any time an astronaut gets out of a vehicle while in space, it is called a spacewalk.
The spacewalk was originally scheduled to take place on Monday, but NASA pushed it back to inspect a coolant leak in a Russian Soyuz capsule that is docked with the ISS, as Russian cosmonauts were prepping for a spacewalk of their own before it was canceled. It was delayed another day after the late discovery of a potential close call by a piece of space debris.
Thursday’s spacewalk was broadcast live on NASA’s YouTube page. Check it out below.