Rare all-female astronaut spacewalk delayed due to coolant leak at space station

Two astronauts scheduled to exit the International Space Station’s airlock on Thursday will wait until later this year after a coolant leak outside the ISS caused NASA to rearrange the spacewalk schedule.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen were scheduled to conduct a spacewalk this week.

However, after a coolant leak, mission engineers are evaluating conditions outside the ISS and delaying the spacewalk until later this year.

NASA said a backup radiator on the ISS’s Nauka multipurpose laboratory module began leaking coolant and stopped on October 6, changing the environment around the ISS.

O’Hara and Mogensen planned to collect microorganisms outside the ISS as part of an experiment.

“The spacewalk date was adjusted to allow engineers additional time to complete the analysis of the coolant leak,” NASA said. “The coolant is not toxic or dangerous to the crew, but experts are discussing how best to prevent small traces of the substance from entering some internal systems to avoid degradation of the equipment over time.”

Mission engineers are assessing conditions outside the ISS and delaying the spacewalk until later this year. NASA/Robert Markowitz NASA said a backup radiator on the ISS’s Nauka multipurpose laboratory module began leaking coolant and stopped on Oct. 6, changing the environment around the ISS. .NASA This spacewalk will be only the fourth in history with an all-female crew.NASA

The coolant leak also delayed another spacewalk by O’Hara and NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and is now scheduled for October 30.

This will be a rare all-female spacewalk, only the fourth in history.

See also  Warren Powell's cause of death linked to car crash in Doncaster

The first, carried out by NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch, occurred in 2019 after more than 20 years of the ISS operating in low Earth orbit.

O’Hara and Moghbeli will conduct a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to remove electronic equipment and replace hardware from the solar panels on the outside of the ISS.

The first all-female spacewalk by NASA astronauts occurred in 2019 with Jessica Meir and Christina Koch.REUTERS

Two Russian cosmonauts are also scheduled to conduct a spacewalk in October. On October 25, cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub will complete Roscosmos maintenance tasks outside the ISS.

O’Hara and Mogensen will carry out the collection of microorganisms during spacewalk 90 later this year.

Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn

Leave a Comment