Astronauts and cosmonauts on Expedition 69 at the International Space Station (ISS) are gearing up for two upcoming spacewalks. NASA astronauts Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen will be conducting the first spacewalk, scheduled for Thursday, June 15. During this spacewalk, they will install a roll-out solar array. A week later, cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin will perform maintenance tasks and carry out photographic inspections on the Roscosmos segment during the second spacewalk. The crew members have been busy preparing for these spacewalks, which are important for the maintenance and operation of the ISS.

Figure 1. Astronauts Get Ready for Two Spacewalks as They Prepare for A Starlit Stroll

Figure 1 shows NASA astronauts Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen have received the green light from mission managers to proceed with their spacewalk on Thursday. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 8:55 a.m., when the astronauts will activate their spacesuits' battery power. The main objective of the spacewalk is to install a roll-out solar array on the starboard truss segment, opposite to where they installed a previous solar array on June 9.

The spacewalk, expected to last around six hours, will be broadcast live on NASA TV starting at 7:30 a.m. through the agency's app and website. Summary: Astronauts Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen will conduct a spacewalk to install a roll-out solar array on the ISS's starboard truss segment. The event will be broadcasted live on NASA TV.

On Wednesday, astronauts Hoburg and Bowen prepared their spacesuits in the Quest airlock in preparation for their upcoming spacewalk on Thursday. With the assistance of NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio, they organized their tools and tethers for the spacewalk. Later, they joined NASA Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi from the United Arab Emirates for a final review of the spacewalk procedures and robotic activities related to the installation of the solar array. Summary: Astronauts Hoburg and Bowen readied their spacesuits and organized their tools with assistance from Rubio. They also reviewed spacewalk procedures and robotics activities with Alneyadi.

Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin, the cosmonauts of Expedition 69, are preparing for their own spacewalk scheduled for June 22. Their spacewalk will involve conducting maintenance on the outside of the Roscosmos segment of the International Space Station (ISS). On Wednesday, they gathered spacewalking hardware, tested support equipment, and configured their spacesuit components in preparation for the upcoming activity. During the spacewalk, they will exit the Poisk airlock and spend approximately seven hours replacing communications and science hardware, as well as photographing the condition of the Zvezda service module.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev began his day by attending to life support maintenance tasks. Following that, he activated and provided radiation sensors to astronauts Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, who will wear them on their spacesuits during the upcoming spacewalk. Fedyaev then engaged in a workout session on a treadmill while ground specialists observed the real-time video of his exercise and monitored hardware operations.[1]

Source: SciTechDaily

Cite this article:

Janani R (2023), Astronauts Get Ready for Two Spacewalks as They Prepare for A Starlit Stroll, Anatechmaz, pp.1