Crew Ready for Spacewalk While Working Earth and Fire Research

ISS - Expedition 61 Mission patch.

January 14, 2020

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA

The first of three spacewalks planned for January begins Wednesday to continue upgrading International Space Station power systems and a cosmic ray detector. While the spacewalkers ready their suits and tools, the rest of the Expedition 61 crew is on science and maintenance duty today.

NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Meir is partnering for a second time with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch for a pair of spacewalks set for tomorrow and Jan. 20. The duo is finalizing preparations for the two six-and-a-half hour spacewalks to replace batteries that store and distribute solar power. They will set their U.S. spacesuits to internal power at 6:50 a.m. and translate out to the Port-6 truss structure. Once there they swap out old nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries. NASA TV begins its live coverage Wednesday at 5:30 a.m. EST.

Image above: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (left) and Christina Koch are pictured preparing to begin the historic first-ever all-female spacewalk on Oct. 18, 2019. Image Credit: NASA.

A third spacewalk is planned for Jan. 25 with NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan and Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency). They will finish the thermal repair work on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer they began last year.

Meanwhile, Morgan and Parmitano were on science duty today. The astronauts took turns safely burning fabric and acrylic samples to help scientists understand how flames spread in space. Results may inform the design of fire safety products and procedures on Earth and in space. The two crewmates also drew their blood samples, spinning them in a centrifuge for later analysis.

Image above: NASA astronaut Jessica Meir takes an out-of-this-world "space-selfie" with her spacesuit helmet visor down reflecting her camera and International Space Station hardware. She and fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch (out of frame) ventured into the vacuum of space for seven hours and 17 minutes to swap a failed battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU) with a spare during the first all-woman spacewalk. Image Credit: NASA.

Cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov spent the day servicing Russian life support equipment. On the science schedule, cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka continued setting up and testing hardware that will observe the Earth’s mesosphere at different wavelengths.

Related links:

Expedition 61: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition61/index.html

Spacewalks: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-tv-coverage-set-for-three-spacewalks-in-january

Port-6 truss structure: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/truss-structure

NASA TV: https://www.nasa.gov/live

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS): https://cms.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/alpha-magnetic-spectrometer.html

How flames spread: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7886

Mesosphere: https://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/study/15.html

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Animation (mentioned), Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/Katherine Brown.

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