Space Life Blogs

Astronaut Thomas Pesquet is pictured attached to the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm during a spacewalk to install new roll out solar arrays. The Expedition 65 crew is checking spacesuits and tools following Wednesday’s spacewalk while also getting ready for a second spacewalk on Sunday. There was also time aboard the International Space Station for ongoing research and maintenance. Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet completed Wednesday’s spacewalk after seven hours and 15 minutes beginning the installation of a pair of new roll out solar arrays. The duo now turns its attention to a Sunday spacewalk to continue more solar array installation work on the orbiting lab’s P-6 truss segment . NASA TV will begin its live coverage at 6:30 a.m. EDT for all the spacewalk activities. Space is hard. Yesterday on our spacewalk, we encountered several issues that the entire team worked through incredibly well. @Thom_astro took these photos and led us beautifully through a very chal...

Spacewalkers Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet working at the Port-6 truss during EVA 74. Credit: NASA TV NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet concluded their spacewalk at 3:26 p.m. EDT, after 7 hours and 15 minutes. In the seventh spacewalk of the year outside the International Space Station , the two astronauts installed a new ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) into its mounting bracket on the far end of the left (port) side of the station’s backbone truss structure (P6). Kimbrough and Pesquet successfully removed the array from its position in the flight support equipment and maneuvered it into position on the mast canister at the 2B power channel. Before the new array can be deployed and begin providing power to the orbiting laboratory, spacewalkers will need to install the electrical cables and drive the final two bolts to enable the solar array to unfurl its fully deployed position. Pesquet and Kimbrough are scheduled for anoth...

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough photographed during a spacewalk in January 2017. About three hours into today’s spacewalk, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough made his way back to the Quest airlock at the International Space Station to reconnect his spacesuit to an umbilical connection and restarted it. The reset corrected the issues with his spacesuit’s display and controls module that provides him information about the status of his spacesuit. In addition, after seeing a spike in the reading for pressure in his sublimator, which provides cooling for his spacesuit, flight controllers had Kimbrough cycle the sublimator. The data stabilized. Kimbrough is safe and has now made his way back to the worksite where the new solar arrays remain in the flight support equipment. Meanwhile, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet remained in the foot restraint attached to the end of the station’s robotic Canadarm2 in preparation to continue the work to release the new ISS Roll-Out Solar...

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough (left) and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet (right) are today’s spacewalkers. 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 8:11 a.m. EDT to begin the spacewalk, which is expected to last about six and a half hours. Watch the spacewalk on NASA TV, the NASA app , and on 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. It is the third spacewalk Kimbrough and Pesquet have conducted together, following two Expedition 50 spacewalks in January and March 2017 that included another station power upgrade, replacing nickel-hydrogen bat...

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough (left) and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet (right) are conducting their third spacewalk together. NASA Television coverage of today’s spacewalk with NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet is now underway and is also available on the NASA app and the agency’s website . The crew members of Expedition 65 are preparing to go outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk expected to begin at approximately 8 a.m. EDT and last about six and a half hours. The crew is in their spacesuits in the airlock in preparation to exit the space station and begin today’s activities to install and deploy the first new ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) to upgrade the station’s power supply. As illustrated in a NASA animation , Kimbrough and Pesquet will be working near the farthest set of current solar arrays on the station’s left (port) side, known as P6, to upgrade the 2B power channel. First they will prepare and ...

Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Mark Vande Hei support astronauts Thomas Pesquet (left) and Shane Kimbrough (right) as they test their U.S. spacesuits for a fit verification. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet are scheduled to exit the International Space Station ’s Quest airlock Wednesday for a spacewalk to install and deploy the first of six new solar arrays to help power the orbiting laboratory. Live coverage of the spacewalk will air on NASA Television, the agency’s  website , and the NASA app beginning June 16 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 upgrade the 2B power channel with the installation and deployment of an  ISS R...

Expedition 65 Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei assists astronauts Shane Kimbrough (bottom) and Thomas Pesquet (top) into their U.S. spacesuits to test them for a fit verification. Two spacewalkers and their assistants are in final preparations one day before the first of two excursions begins to install new solar arrays. The rest of the Expedition 65 crew focused on science and maintenance activities at the International Space Station . Two astronauts, Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency), will set their spacesuits to battery power at 8 a.m. EDT on Wednesday signifying the start of their spacewalk. The duo will exit the U.S. Quest airlock and maneuver to the Port-6 truss structure to install the first of two roll-out solar arrays. They will go out again on Sunday at the same time to install the second set of solar arrays. NASA TV will broadcast both spacewalks from start to finish starting at 6:30 a.m. EDT each day. They will be assisted by NASA...