posted 02-27-2021 07:28 PM               

ISS Expedition 64: U.S. Spacewalk 71

NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover are scheduled to exit the International Space Station’s Quest airlock on Sunday (Feb. 28) for a spacewalk to begin assembling and installing modification kits required for upcoming solar array upgrades.

The pair will set their spacesuits to battery power at about 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT), signifying the start of the spacewalk, which is expected to last about six and a half hours.

The current solar arrays are functioning well but have begun to show signs of degradation, as expected, as they were designed for a 15-year service life. The first pair of solar arrays were deployed in December 2000 and have been powering the station for more than 20 years. Later this year, the new solar arrays will be positioned in front of six of the current arrays, ultimately increasing the station’s total available power from 160 kilowatts to up to 215 kilowatts.

Rubins will be extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1) wearing red stripes. Glover will be extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2) and wear a suit with no stripes. This spacewalk will be the third of Rubins’ career. Glover has conducted two spacewalks as part of this expedition, making the spacewalk on Feb. 28 the third in his career.

This will be the 235th spacewalk in support of space station assembly.

posted 02-27-2021 08:26 PM               

NASA will begin its live coverage on NASA Television at 4:30 a.m. EST (0930 GMT) on Sunday (Feb. 28).

posted 02-28-2021 01:03 PM               

Astronauts conclude spacewalk

NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover began their spacewalk on Sunday (Feb. 28) at 6:12 a.m. EST (1012 GMT) and concluded at 1:16 p.m. EST (1816 GMT), after 7 hours and 4 minutes. The two spacewalkers began work to install modification kits required for upcoming solar array upgrades.

The duo worked near the farthest set of existing solar arrays on the International Space Station's left (port) side, known as P6. Glover built a bracket structure and worked with Rubins to attach the bracket and support struts to the mast canister, the base, of one of the P6 solar arrays, known as 2B.

One of the bolts did not fully engage on the first attempt, so Rubins used a power drill to back it out and reseat it, then used a ratchet wrench to tighten the bolt, reaching a safe configuration. The bolt likely will need to be secured further before installing one of the new solar arrays that will be delivered to the space station later this year aboard SpaceX CRS-22 commercial resupply services mission.

Rubins and Glover then moved to begin identical assembly work for the bracket for the second of the P6 solar array pair, known as 4B. They completed the construction of upper support hardware and secured it to the space station's exterior structure until work can be completed on the next spacewalk on Friday, March 5.

This was the third career spacewalk for both Rubins and Glover. Rubins has now spent a total of 19 hours and 50 minutes spacewalking. Glover now has spent a total of 19 hours and 20 minutes spacewalking.

Space station crew members have conducted 235 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 61 days, 14 hours, and 11 minutes working outside the station.