Two cosmonauts returned to motion Friday, September 2, greater than making up for a lower quick spacewalk two weeks in the past.
Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev simply exceeded their assigned spacewalk duties throughout a 7-hour, 47-minute spacewalk from the Worldwide Area Station which started at 9:25 a.m. EDT (1:25 p.m. GMT).
“You completed greater than you deliberate! Very productive,” a consultant from Moscow Mission Management instructed the cosmonauts simply after they closed the hatch. (The transmission was in Russian; interpretation was accessible in English on NASA TV.)
Working as much as an hour and 10 minutes forward of the timeline, Artemyev and Matveev accomplished quite a few duties to arrange the European robotic arm and accomplished a preliminary process to increase the lengthy Strela jib crane between the Poisk and FGB modules on the complicated in orbit. Russian facet.
“These poles have plenty of inertia,” commented one of many mid-stretch spacewalkers.
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Artemyev and Matveev needed to return to the airlock early on August 17 after one of many Orlan spacesuits skilled a battery drawback. (NASA did not reveal how Roscosmos assessed the issue or determined to conduct spacewalks; the spacesuits had no energy points this time round.)
They rapidly accomplished the remaining duties on right now’s tour, together with putting in a piece platform on the Nauka module, configuring a management panel and the “finish effector gripping the arm, and maneuvering some isolation between places, amongst different duties.
In addition to extending the growth, a key purpose of the spacewalk was achieved when the walkers efficiently examined a mechanism to assist the arm seize payloads of greater than 9 tons in area.
The cosmonauts additionally had a number of moments to admire the Earth, together with witnessing devastating wildfires and smoke over California. “You’ll be able to see these forest fires. It is spectacular,” one of many spacewalkers commented shortly earlier than 11:20 a.m. EDT (1520 GMT), throughout the second hour of extravehicular exercise.
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On their earlier tour on August 17, which lasted 2.5 hours, the duo did sufficient work for European controllers to make the primary transfer on the arm on August 24.
“This primary transfer concerned releasing the payload – a single-pin latch and its adapter for the Cosmonaut Help Software – from Nauka, shifting it to the opposite facet of the module, after which reinstalling it in its place. of origin,” European Area Company officers mentioned. (opens in a brand new tab). (Nauka is the Russian module with which the arm was launched into area in July 2021.)
The arm moved a payload the scale of a small suitcase throughout the check, however when absolutely prepared it is going to be in a position to carry payloads with a mass of practically 9 tonnes. Controllers are planning a extra bold arm check in mid-September to evaluate brakes, joint motion, drive management and digicam picture high quality.
Friday’s spacewalk was Artemyev’s eighth spacewalk and Matveev’s fourth, NASA mentioned. It was additionally the eighth to the ISS in 2022 and the 253rd supporting its meeting and upkeep since 1998, based mostly on knowledge from earlier spacewalks.
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