Astronauts Prep for Roll-Out Solar Array Installation Job

NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg rides the Canadarm2 robotic arm while maneuvering a roll-out solar array during a spacewalk on June 9, 2023, 257 miles above the Pacific Ocean.
NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg rides the Canadarm2 robotic arm while maneuvering a roll-out solar array during a spacewalk on June 9, 2023, 257 miles above the Pacific Ocean.

The International Space Station’s sixth roll-out solar array will be installed this week after last week’s installation of its fifth roll-out solar array. The Expedition 69 crew spent Monday preparing for the installation spacewalk while also continuing research, cargo, and maintenance activities.

NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg will once again exit the space station’s Quest airlock at 9:20 a.m. EDT on Thursday for their second roll-out solar array installation spacewalk together. The spacewalkers will install another roll-out solar array on the opposite side of the starboard truss structure where they installed the orbital outpost’s fifth roll-out solar array. Thursday’s spacewalk will represent the completion of the power upgrade work ultimately increasing the station’s power-generating capacity by 30%.

Bowen and Hoburg spent several hours on Monday reviewing their solar array installation procedures, configuring spacewalking tools, and conferring with ground engineers. The pair were also joined around midday by Flight Engineers Frank Rubio of NASA and Sultan Alneyadi of UAE (United Arab Emirates) for the procedure reviews. Rubio and Alneyadi then completed their work shift after training on a computer for the Canadarm2 robotic arm maneuvers they will use to support Thursday’s spacewalkers.

The four astronauts still had time on Monday for a variety of other activities promoting health, studying physics, and resupplying the orbital outpost. Rubio had a vision test that had him reading characters on a standard eye chart. Bowen swapped samples inside the Fluids Science Laboratory for a foam physics study potentially benefitting Earth and space industries. Hoburg and Alneyadi took turns unpacking the SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle and stowing the new science experiments, hardware, and crew supplies aboard the station.

The space station’s three cosmonauts with Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin and Andrey Fedyaev cleared their schedule on Monday and relaxed. The trio will soon begin preparing for the next spacewalk out of the Roscosmos segment of the orbiting lab.

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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