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Spot the tiny NASA astronauts deck up solar panels from 410 kms above Earth
In what would keep the space station running for the rest of this decade, astronauts - NASA's Shane Kimbrough and France's Thomas Pesquet successfully installed the second in a series of powerful solar wings.
Making for a spectacular way from up above, two NASA astronauts on Friday finished unfurling a new pair of solar panels outside the International Space Station. This was their third spacewalk in just over a week.
In what would keep the space station running for the rest of this decade, two astronauts - NASA's Shane Kimbrough and France's Thomas Pesquet successfully installed the second in a series of powerful solar wings. This spectacle comes at the time space tourism ramps up with visitors beginning in the fall.
“We have a lot of happy faces down here,” Mission Control radioed as power surged through the panel.
In what should have been a two-spacewalk job, roadblocks like spacesuit and other problems hampered the astronauts’ work on June 16. This delayed the first solar wing's extension to its full length of 63 feet (19 meters) until Sunday. NASA added a third spacewalk for Friday to attach and unfold the second wing — this time everything went smoothly 255 miles (410 kilometers) up.
Shortly after the panel was unveiled 410 kilometers above the Earth, NASA shared a tweet with a magical view.
"😎 How about that view? 255 miles (410 kilometers) above Earth, @Thom_Astro (suit with red stripes) and @Astro_Kimbrough continue making progress upgrading the @Space_Station's power supply," the tweet read.
Once Pesquet released the final bolt, the newest solar wing unrolled like a giant stretch of wallpaper, high above the Bering Sea. It took 10 minutes for the slow but steady extension.
“Well done out there, buddy,” Kimbrough called out.
In order to prevent astronauts from electrical shocks, and to ensure work was not carried out when the solar panels were soaking up sunlight and generating power, NASA carried out most of the action during the six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk took place on the nighttime side of Earth as a safety precaution.
The two solar panels delivered by SpaceX earlier this month aren't nearly as big as the station's original wings. But they produce more electricity because of new technology. NASA plans to send up four more panels over the coming year; Boeing is supplying them.
This first pair will supplement the space station's oldest solar wings, degraded after 20 years of continuous operation.
Kimbrough and Pesquet are two months into a six-month mission. Two other Americans are aboard the space station, along with one Japanese and two Russians.
With inputs from Associated Press
