NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover Jr. ventured out into the vast expanse of space on Sunday, 28 February to conduct a spacewalk. The reasoning behind the spacewalk was to preparer the International Space Station for solar panel upgrades.
Helmets and gloves are coming off as @AstroVicGlover and Kate Rubins begin to take off their spacesuits, assisted by @Astro_Soichi and @Astro_Illini. Today’s spacewalk completed steps to augment the @Space_Station‘s power supply for upcoming research and commercial activities. pic.twitter.com/5dPprFI14Y
— NASA (@NASA) February 28, 2021
🤩 High-definition views are coming in from astronaut Kate Rubins’ helmet camera as she makes her way to the worksite for today’s spacewalk. She & @AstroVicGlover will work together to assemble and install modification kits for upcoming @Space_Station solar array upgrades. pic.twitter.com/GAtAeeKNVO
— NASA (@NASA) February 28, 2021
This animation gives an overview of the process for the two @NASA_Astronauts on today’s spacewalk. Kate Rubins is extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1) in the spacesuit with red stripes, and @AstroVicGlover is EV 2, in the spacesuit with no stripes. pic.twitter.com/k97e1mWqk3
— NASA (@NASA) February 28, 2021
This is not the first time Rubins and Glover have left the comfort and safety of the ISS to conduct a spacewalk. Rubins has previously been on two different spacewalks in the past, with Sundays being her third. Glover had also conducted two spacewalks in the past, with this most recent spacewalk also being his third.
As mentioned above, the reason behind the most recent spacewalks was to prepare the ISS for a solar panel upgrade. The solar panels used to power the ISS have a lifespan of around 15 years and seeing as they were installed back in December 2000, it’s safe to say they the time for an upgrade has arrived.
The new solar panels will be used to replace the front of the six arrays currently being used by the ISS and is expected to arrive at the station sometime in 2021. Once installed, the new panels will boost power generation from 160 kilowatts to 215 kilowatts.
In terms of how exactly the new pannels will get to the ISS, they will arrive at the station aboard the SpaceX vehicle in June, according to Slash Gear.
Picture: Twitter/@Space_Station
