On Tuesday, NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei ventured out of the International Space Station (ISS) to install a new high-definition (HD) video camera outside the orbiting post. The pair also lubricated the latching end effector of space station’s 58-foot-long robotic arm.
Second spacewalk in the last five days
This was the second spacewalk of these astronauts in the last five days.
On October 5, the duo had replaced the latching mechanism on one end of the Canadian-made robotic arm, called Canadarm2.
The live video of the spacewalk on Tuesday showed Commander Randy Bresnik floating in the vacuum of space in his white spacesuit. It was the fourth spacewalk for Bresnik in his career and the second for Mark Vande Hei.
The space station got "new eyes"
Rob Navias, the NASA spokesman, described the latest installation of HD camera as providing "new eyes" to the space station. The camera that was replaced on Tuesday was adding pink hue in the images, thus degrading the quality of the images.
During next spacewalk on October 18, astronauts will replace another old camera nicknamed “Old Yeller” that is tinting images yellow.
According to NASA, the spacewalk on Tuesday went off smoothly. It started at 1156 GMT with switching the spacesuits to battery power and was completed after 386 minutes. The astronauts also lubricated the latching end effector of the robotic arm during this spacewalk.
The orbiting outpost had got its robotic arm about 16 years ago, and recently, it was noticed that the arm was not gripping the things effectively. This arm is frequently used by astronauts to capture cargo ships arriving at the ISS. During the spacewalk, astronaut pair also carried out some other tasks, including removal of handrails from the outside of Tranquility module.
Presently, six astronauts are on board at the space station. As the ISS started to fly over Italy, the Mission Control urged the two spacewalkers to capture some pictures of the country for their Italian crewmate, Paolo Nespoli.
The third spacewalk for this month will be completed on October 18
NASA plans to complete the third spacewalk for this month on October 18. Flight Engineer Joe Acaba will join Commander Bresnik in this spacewalk, and the pair will further lubricate the end effector of the robotic arm. They will also replace a camera system installed at Destiny Lab.
The October 18 spacewalk will be third in Acaba’s career and the tenth in 2017.