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Astronauts Look to Friday Spacewalk after Roll Out Solar Array Installation

The International Space Station has a new solar array that was installed during Sunday’s spacewalk by Expedition 65 astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet. The duo will conduct a third spacewalk on Friday to install a second solar array.

The first ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) was successfully installed and deployed during a spacewalk on Sunday and is performing well. Ground teams will continue to collect data on its performance and compare it to last year’s information, calculating the total power gained.

Kimbrough and Pesquet completed the solar array installation work and began configuring a second iROSA during Sunday’s six-hour and 28-minute spacewalk. The duo now turns its attention to Friday’s excursion to install the second iROSA on the opposite side of the Port-6 truss structure where the first solar array is installed. NASA TV, on the agency’s website, and the NASA app, will start its live coverage at 6:30 a.m. with the spacewalk set to begin at 8 a.m. when the veteran spacewalkers set their U.S. spacesuits to battery power.

The spacewalking duo joined NASA Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Mark Vande Hei for a conference with ground specialists. Then Kimbrough and Pesquet serviced some spacesuit components and organized tools for Friday’s upcoming spacewalk. McArthur and Vande Hei will once again assist the pair in and out of their spacesuits and provide robotics support on Friday.

Research still continued aboard the orbital lab today as the crew explored pharmaceuticals, protein crystals and the human eye.

Commander Akihiko Hoshide serviced samples inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox for a study that explores freeze-drying as a way to preserve medicines for long periods of time. Kimbrough peered through a microscope looking at samples for the Real-Time Protein Crystal Growth experiment which could lead to new disease therapies on Earth.

Vande Hei took on the crew medical officer role today and scanned the eyes of McArthur using medical imaging hardware. The eye exams take place regularly on the station since astronauts have reported vision issues after living in space for months.

The two Roscosmos flight engineers, cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, split their day between science and maintenance activities. Novitskiy explored plasma crystals first then photographed the condition of the Pirs docking compartment ahead of its departure later this summer. Dubrov checked communications gear and worked Russian life support hardware.

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Mark Garcia

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Spacewalkers Complete First Roll Out Solar Array Installation

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet concluded their spacewalk at 2:10 p.m. EDT, after 6 hours and 28 minutes. In the eighth spacewalk of the year outside the International Space Station, the two astronauts completed the deployment of a new ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) on the far end of the left (port) side of the station’s backbone truss structure (P6).

The 60-foot-long roll out solar arrays have successfully deployed as the space station soared over the United States. #AskNASA | https://t.co/yuOTrYN8CV pic.twitter.com/6mQOQ2Fj5n

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) June 20, 2021

Kimbrough and Pesquet successfully unfolded the solar array, bolted it into place, and connected cables to the station’s power supply to complete deployment. Additionally, the astronauts removed and stowed hardware in preparation for releasing the second iROSA from the flight support structure for installation. The pair will work toward the second solar array upgrade – this one on the P6 truss’ 4B power channel – during another spacewalk, tentatively scheduled for June 25.

NASA is augmenting six of the eight existing power channels of the space station with new solar arrays to ensure a sufficient power supply is maintained for NASA’s exploration technology demonstrations for Artemis and beyond as well as utilization and commercialization.

This was the eighth spacewalk for Kimbrough, the fourth for Pesquet, and the fourth they have conducted together. Kimbrough has now spent a total of 52 hours and 43 minutes spacewalking, and Pesquet’s total spacewalking time is 26 hours and 15 minutes.

Space station crew members have conducted 240 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 63 days and 56 minutes working outside the station.

In November 2020, the International Space Station surpassed its 20-year milestone of continuous human presence, providing opportunities for unique research and technological demonstrations that help prepare for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars and also improve life on Earth. In that time, 244 people from 19 countries have visited the orbiting laboratory that has hosted nearly 3,000 research investigations from researchers in 108 countries and areas.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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Spacewalkers Successfully Deploy Solar Arrays

Working together outside the International Space Station, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough successfully connected and deployed a new ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA). It is the first of six total new iROSAs that will be installed in the coming years to upgrade the station’s power supply and is the first of two to be installed this week after the pair’s delivery aboard SpaceX’s cargo Dragon on the company’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission to the station.

The 60-foot-long roll out solar arrays have successfully deployed as the space station soared over the United States. #AskNASA | https://t.co/yuOTrYN8CV pic.twitter.com/6mQOQ2Fj5n

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) June 20, 2021

The new solar arrays are being positioned in front of current arrays, which are functioning well but have begun to show signs of expected degradation as they have operated beyond their designed 15-year service life. The first pair of legacy solar arrays were deployed in December 2000 and have been powering the station for more than 20 years.

The new solar array is positioned in front of the current solar array on the same plane and rotary joints, but not directly on top of the primary solar arrays. The new arrays are 60 feet long by 20 feet wide (18.2 meters by 6 meters) and will shade a little more than half of the original array, which is 112 feet long by 39 feet wide. Each new iROSA will produce more than 20 kilowatts of electricity, while the current arrays generate, on average, 17 to 23 kilowatts each.

Boeing, NASA’s prime contractor for space station operations, its subsidiary Spectrolab, and major supplier Deployable Space Systems (DSS) provided the new arrays. The technology was developed and proven by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate during a demonstration on the space station in 2017, and the same solar array design will be used to power elements of the agency’s Gateway lunar outpost.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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Astronauts Begin Spacewalk to Complete Solar Array Installation

ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough have begun their spacewalk outside the International Space Station to install and deploy the first new ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA).

The spacewalkers switched their spacesuits to battery power at 7:42 a.m. EDT to begin the spacewalk, which is expected to last about six-and-a-half hours.

Watch the spacewalk on NASA TV on the NASA app and the agency’s website.

Pesquet is extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1), wearing a spacesuit bearing red stripes and using helmet camera #20. Kimbrough is extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2), wearing the unmarked spacesuit and helmet camera #22.

Pesquet will take lead moving to the P6 worksite, the pair will both work to unfold the new solar array on the 2B power channel, and Kimbrough will drive in the two remaining bolts to secure the solar array in place. Then, the pair will mate cable to connect the array to the station’s power supply to complete deployment. If time allows, the spacewalkers will turn to get-ahead tasks for the second iROSA installation.

This is the fourth spacewalk Kimbrough and Pesquet have conducted together, following the recent spacewalk that initiated the first iROSA upgrade, and including two Expedition 50 spacewalks in January and March 2017 that included another station power upgrade, replacing nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries.

This is the 240th spacewalk in support of space station assembly.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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NASA TV Broadcasts Solar Array Spacewalk on Sunday

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet are scheduled to exit the International Space Station’s Quest airlock Sunday for a spacewalk to continue installation and deployment of the first of six total new solar arrays to help power the orbiting laboratory. The duo installed the solar array into its mounting bracket during a June 16 spacewalk.

Live coverage of the spacewalk will air on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app beginning June 20 at 6:30 a.m. EDT, with the crew members scheduled to set their spacesuits to battery power about 8 a.m., signifying the start of their spacewalk.

During the planned six-and-a-half hour spacewalk, Kimbrough and Pesquet will work on the far end of the left (port) side of the station’s backbone truss structure (P6) to deploy, or unroll, the first of two ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs) that will augment power capability for the port 6 truss’ 2B power channel.

Two of the six new solar arrays recently arrived as part of SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission to the station. During the June 16 spacewalk, Kimbrough and Pesquet began installing the first of the two, but were unable to fully deploy the solar array due to a structural interference with a mounting bracket. The array was securely fastened to the flight support structure.

Before the new array can be deployed and begin providing power to the orbiting laboratory, the two will need to install the electrical cables and drive the final two bolts to enable the solar array to unroll it into its fully laid-out position. If deployment is completed Sunday, the pair may be scheduled for a third spacewalk to begin work to prepare the second new solar array – this one on P6 truss’ 4B power channel – for installation and deployment.

The new solar arrays will augment the existing arrays, which are functioning well but have begun to show signs of expected degradation as they have operated beyond their designed 15-year service life. The first pair of solar arrays were deployed in December 2000 and have been powering the station for more than 20 years.

This will be the 240th spacewalk in support of space station assembly. Pesquet will be extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1), with red stripes on his spacesuit, while Kimbrough will be extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2) in an unmarked suit.

This will be the eighth spacewalk for Kimbrough, and the fourth for Pesquet. Both astronauts arrived at the space station April 24 with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour. The two are slated for a for a six-month science mission.

Watch a video providing status update on space station activities, and learn more about the orbiting laboratory by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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