...the who's who,
and the what's what 
of the space industry

Space Careers

news Space News

Search News Archive

Title

Article text

Keyword

  • Home
  • News
  • Spacewalking astronauts improve station's European lab

Spacewalking astronauts improve station's European lab

Written by  Tuesday, 26 January 2021 15:15
Write a comment
Spacewalking astronauts improve station's European lab
In this image taken from NASA video, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins works outside the International Space Station's European lab on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Hopkins and Victor Glover went spacewalking Wednesday to install a high-speed data link outside the International Space Station's European lab and connect cables for an experiment platform awaiting activation for almost a year. (NASA via AP)

Spacewalking astronauts installed a high-speed data link outside the International Space Station's European lab on Wednesday and tackled other improvements.

NASA's Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover floated out early and headed straight to Columbus, one of the three high-tech labs at the orbiting outpost.

"That's a beautiful view," Hopkins observed as the station soared 260 miles (420 kilometers) above Kazakhstan.

The astronauts hauled with them a fancy new antenna for Columbus that will provide faster communication with European researchers via satellites and . Although they had trouble driving in some of the bolts to attach the boxy antenna, the size of a small refrigerator, it appeared to be secure and Mission Control declared success.

Danish astronaut Andreas Morgensen guided the spacewalkers from Mission Control in Houston, where controllers wore masks and were seated apart because of the pandemic.

The spacewalkers also needed to hook up power and data cables for an experiment platform for outside the European lab that's been awaiting activation for almost a year.

SpaceX delivered the platform named Bartolomeo to the last spring. The shelf was installed with the station's , but had to wait until Wednesday's spacewalk to get hooked up and activated.

  • Spacewalking astronauts improve station's European lab
    In this image taken from NASA video, NASA astronaut Victor Glover makes his way to the International Space Station's European lab on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Glover and Mike Hopkins went spacewalking Wednesday to install a high-speed data link outside the International Space Station's European lab and connect cables for an experiment platform awaiting activation for almost a year. (NASA via AP)
  • Spacewalking astronauts improve station's European lab
    In this image taken from NASA video, NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins make routine maintenance on the International Space Station's European lab on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Glover and Hopkins went spacewalking Wednesday to install a high-speed data link outside the International Space Station's European lab and connect cables for an experiment platform awaiting activation for almost a year. (NASA via AP)

Airbus, which built and runs Bartolomeo, is selling space on the platform for private research projects. It's Europe's first commercial venture outside the station.

Hopkins and Glover will perform a second spacewalk on Monday to complete battery upgrades to the station's solar power grid. The latest spacewalk was the third for Hopkins and first for Glover.

They are part of SpaceX's second astronaut flight that launched in November. Their docked Dragon capsule was visible on NASA TV during the spacewalk.



© 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Citation: Spacewalking astronauts improve station's European lab (2021, January 27) retrieved 27 January 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2021-01-spacewalking-astronauts-station-european-lab.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Read more from original source...

You must login to post a comment.
Loading comment... The comment will be refreshed after 00:00.

Be the first to comment.

Interested in Space?

Hit the buttons below to follow us...