NASA astronauts Jasmine Mogbeli (top) and Laurel O’Hara (bottom) join the exterior of the space station for maintenance during the first spacewalk. Credit: NASA TV
NASA Astronauts Jasmine Mogbeli and Laurel O’Hara completed their spacewalk today at 2:47 p.m. East After 6 hours and 42 minutes. Their spacewalk began at 8:05 a.m. Mokbeli, Extravehicular Crew Member 1 (EV1), wore a red striped suit. O’Hara, designated Extravehicular Crew Member 2 (EV 2), was in an unmarked suit.
Moghbeli and O’Hara were able to complete one of the spacewalk’s two main objectives, replacing one of the 12 trunnion bearing assemblies on Port Solar Alpha’s rotary joint, which allow the arrays to track the Sun and generate power for the station. Mission Control reported to the station crew that the solar array performed well after the bearing adjustment. To prepare for future installation of the roll-out solar array, the spacewalkers removed the handling bar fixture and repositioned the cable that previously interfered with the external camera.
Deferred Tasks and Tool Bag Incident
The astronauts had planned to remove the communications electronics box, called the Radio Frequency Group, but there wasn’t enough time to complete the job during the spacewalk. The two lifted up some multilayer insulation to better evaluate how to approach the job before replacing the insulation, postponing the task to a future space flight.
(From left) Astronauts Jasmine Mogbeli and Laurel O’Hara try on their space suits and test parts of their suits on the space station. Credit: NASA
During the operation, a tool bag was inadvertently lost. Flight controllers spotted the tool bag using outstation cameras. The remainder of the space flight requires no instruments. Mission control analyzed the trajectory of the bag and determined that the risk of re-contacting the station was low and that the internal crew and the space station were safe with no further action required.
Upcoming assignments and redistribution release
Moghbeli and O’Hara live in the midst of a scientific mission, working at the Microgravity Laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.
NASA and SpaceX The company’s 29th Commercial Redistribution Services mission is slated to launch on Tuesday, November 7th at 9:16pm EST. International Space Station. The extra time allows final prelaunch processing to be completed ahead of the liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and cargo Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA TV’s launch will begin at 8:45 p.m. The spacecraft, carrying about 6,500 pounds of supplies, research and hardware, will lift off at 10:15 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, before 12 p.m. I am
