posted 09-02-2021 10:35 PM               

ISS Expedition 65: Russian Spacewalk 49

Two cosmonauts will work outside of the International Space Station on Friday (Sept. 3) to begin powering up Russia's new multipurpose laboratory module (MLM) "Nauka" ("Science").

Attached to the Zvezda service module since July 29, Nauka will be connected to the station's ethernet and power systems during the spacewalk, which is set to begin at 10:35 a.m. EDT (1435 GMT).

Expedition 65 flight engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, both of Roscosmos, will exit the Poisk airlock on the space-facing side of the station's Russian segment to begin about seven hours of routing and mating cables on the outside of Nauka.

Novitskiy, who is designated as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), will wear the Russian Orlan spacesuit with the red stripes. Dubrov will wear the spacesuit with the blue stripes as EV2.

This will be the second career spacewalk for both cosmonauts; the 242nd spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades; and the 10th spacewalk at the station in 2021.

posted 09-03-2021 05:39 PM               

Cosmonauts run power and data to new module

Expedition 65 flight engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov on Friday (Sept. 2) connected power and data cables for the new multipurpose laboratory module (MLM), also referred to as "Nauka" (or "Science" in Russian).

The cosmonauts began the seven-hour and 54-minute spacewalk at 10:41 a.m. EDT (1441 GMT) by opening the hatch on the Poisk mini-research module located adjacent to Nauka on the Russian segment fo the space station.

Retrieving two bundles of four cables each, the two spacewalkers connected the U.S. operating segment's power supply to a patch panel on Nauka and to an interface panel on the Zarya functional cargo block. The cosmonauts ran into some difficulty removing protective end caps from some of the cables, but were able to get all of them freed and the cables plugged in.

The eight cables tied Nauka into the U.S. solar panel-fed system that provides electricity for the entire space station. Electrical checks conducted after the cables were in place showed a good connection and power flowing as expected.

Novitskiy and Dubrov also began the routing of an ethernet cable to Nauka and partially installed a handrail to ease future spacewalks.

Running slightly behind schedule as a result of the extra work needed to free the cable caps, Novitskiy and Dubrov were instructed by Moscow Mission Control to defer installing two handrails and three biological science experiments to a later spacewalk. Novitskiy and Dubrov wrapped their work by stowing the Strela boom.

The spacewalk ended at 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT), as the airlock hatch on the Poisk module was closed.