Space life

ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet is pictured during a spacewalk in January 2017 when he was an Expedition 50 flight engineer. Two Expedition 65 astronauts are getting ready for a Sunday spacewalk to modify the International Space Station ’s power system. Meanwhile, the orbiting lab is hosting a variety of biology and botany research today as two cosmonauts clean up following Thursday’s spacewalk. International astronauts Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) are preparing for a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk on Sunday. They will set their U.S. spacesuits to battery power at 8:30 a.m. EDT, exit the station’s U.S. Quest airlock , then translate to the Port-4 (P4) truss structure to install a modification kit. This will ready the P4 for a new Roll-Out Solar Array set to be delivered on a SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission next year. NASA TV will begin its live spacewalk coverage at 7 a.m. on ...

Russian spacewalkers (from left) Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov work over 250 miles above the Earth to configure the Nauka multipurpose laboratory for science operations. Credit: NASA TV Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy  and  Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos concluded their spacewalk at 6:16 p.m. EDT after 7 hours and 25 minutes. It was the second of up to 11 spacewalks to prepare the new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for operations in space. Novitskiy and Dubrov finished connecting television, rendezvous system and ethernet cables to the recently arrived Nauka module. They also installed handrails, jettisoned a cable reel, and installed a biology experiment on the Poisk module. This was the 11th spacewalk this year and the 243rd overall in support of space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades. Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 63 days and 23 hours working outside the station. It is the third spacewalk for both cosmonauts, both of whom have now spent a...

Russian spacewalker Pyotr Dubrov is pictured on Sept. 3 outfitting the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module with ethernet cables, power cables and handrails. Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos began a spacewalk to prepare the new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for operations in space when they opened the hatch of the Poisk docking compartment airlock of the International Space Station at 10:51 a.m. EDT. Novitskiy, designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), is wearing a Russian Orlan spacesuit with red stripes, and Dubrov is wearing a spacesuit with blue stripes as extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2). Coverage of the spacewalk continues on NASA Television, the NASA app , and the agency’s  website . Views from a camera on Novitskiy’s helmet are designated with the number 22, and Dubrov’s is labeled with the number 20. The duo’s primary tasks for today’s spacewalk are to continue connecting an etherne...

Russia’s Nauka multipurpose laboratory module is pictured as the station orbited into a sunset above the southern Indian Ocean. NASA Television coverage of today’s spacewalk with cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos 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 exit the International Space Station ‘s Poisk module on the space-facing side of the station’s Russian segment for a spacewalk expected to begin at approximately 11:00 a.m. EDT that will last about six and a half hours. It will be the second of up to 11 spacewalks to prepare the new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for operations in space. Watch a video animation preview of today’s spacewalk and planned activities at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfacX6864b4 During the spacewalk, the cosmonauts will perform tasks including installing handrails on Nauka and connecting power, ethernet, a...

Russian spacewalkers (from left) Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov are pictured on Sept. 3 outfitting the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module with cables and handrails. Two Expedition 65 cosmonauts are ready for their second spacewalk to continue outfitting Russia’s new science module on Thursday. Meanwhile, another spacewalk is due to take place on Sunday to modify the International Space Station ’s power system. Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov wrapped up their spacewalk reviews and Orlan spacesuit checks just before lunchtime on Wednesday. The Russian duo is ready to begin Thursday’s spacewalk set to begin at 11 a.m. EDT when they open the hatch on the Poisk airlock to the vacuum of space. NASA TV will begin its live spacewalk coverage at 10:30 a.m. on the NASA app and the agency’s  website . They will spend about six-and-a-half hours continuing power and ethernet cable connections and installing handrails on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module . The thr...

Russia’s Soyuz MS-18 crew ship (foreground) and Nauka multipurpose laboratory module are pictured docked to the station as it orbited above Africa’s Indian Ocean coast. Two Expedition 65 cosmonauts will soon exit the International Space Station for the second spacewalk in less than week to continue configuring a Russian science module. Meanwhile, two astronauts are gearing up for another spacewalk, while the rest of the crew conducts space research and lab maintenance. Russia’s new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module (MLM) saw its first power and ethernet cable connections last Friday during a seven-hour and 54-minute spacewalk with Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov . The duo from Roscosmos will perform another spacewalk on Thursday at 11 a.m. EDT to continue more Nauka cable connections and install new handrails on the MLM. The two cosmonauts spent Tuesday getting their Orlan spacesuits ready, organizing spacewalk tools and preparing the Poisk airlock fo...

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov during a spacewalk to connect power and ethernet cables to the Nauka laboratory module. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos concluded their spacewalk at 6:35 p.m. EDT after 7 hours and 54 minutes. It is the first of up to 11 spacewalks to prepare the new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for operations in space. Novitskiy and Dubrov completed the major objective for today to connect power cables between the recently arrived Nauka module and the Zarya module to enable the routing of electricity from the U.S. segment of the station to Nauka. Checkouts of the two electrical power cable systems from Zarya to Nauka were successful. They also partially installed one new handrail. Tasks deferred to a future spacewalk are to install two additional handrails to enable spacewalkers to maneuver to and about Nauka more easily, make the final connection for the ethernet cable the duo partially routed today, deploy a ...