The ISS astronauts successfully completed the walk to install Naúka

space

Miami (USA), September 3 (EFE News). – Cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Piotr Dubrov successfully concluded their spacewalk Friday after nearly eight hours during which they were able to deliver electricity between the Naúka multipurpose module and the International Space Station (ISS), NASA reported.

It is the first of a total of 11 spacewalks to prepare Naúka Laboratory’s new multipurpose unit for operations in space.

During the flight, which ended at 18:35 EDT (22:35 GMT), they both completed the main objective of connecting power cables between the newly arrived Naúka module and the Zarya module to allow electricity to be routed from the US portion of the International Space Station.

NASA detailed that “tests of the two electrical power cable systems from Zarya to Nukka were successful.”

The Nauka was launched on a Russian Proton-M missile on July 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and automatically docked at the port of Zvezda on July 29.

The astronauts from the Roscosmos space agency also installed a partially new handrail.

Tasks deferred for a future spacewalk are to install additional fenders to allow the two spacewalks to maneuver into and around Naúka more easily and to make the final connection to the Ethernet cable the duo partially routed today.

Also get rid of the Ethernet cable reel and take pictures of the Russian part of the station, among other tasks.

The duo will continue to work during their second spacewalk next Thursday for about five more hours.

It was the 10th spacewalk this year and ranked 242nd in support of the assembly, maintenance and modernization of the International Space Station.

The astronauts have now spent a total of 63 days, 15 hours and 35 minutes working outside the station.

It was also the second spacewalk for both astronauts, who have now spent a total of 15 hours and 13 minutes in spacewalks.

In November 2020, the International Space Station passed the 20-year mark of continuous human presence, creating opportunities for unique research and technology demonstrations that help prepare for long-term missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as improve life on Earth.

At that time, 244 people from 19 countries visited the orbital laboratory, which houses nearly 3,000 research conducted by researchers from 108 countries and regions.