French astronaut Thomas Pesquet began a new spacewalk on Sunday, in order to complete the installation with his American teammate Shane Kimbrough of new solar panels, intended to increase the energy production capacities of the International Space Station ( ISS).
This is Thomas Pesquet's fourth spacewalk, and the second during this mission.
Here we go again for episode ✌️ of the new solar array installation spacewalks.
Today we finish installing the first and roll straight into preparing the second!
It is a huge team effort each time and couldn't be happier to return with @astro_kimbrough https://t.co/cXBB3MSugD pic.twitter.com/OWNrJQeguy
- Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) June 20, 2021
At 1:42 p.m. (Paris time), the two men switched on the internal battery of their suit, then opened the hatch of the ISS decompression chamber.
Thomas Pesquet went out into the void first, followed by his teammate.
“Extra-vehicular outing, episode 2, Another long but incredible day awaits us with Shane Kimbrough,” the Frenchman tweeted a few hours before the start of this mission.
We never tire of the sight 😍 #MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/7h7wEDav6X
- CNES (@CNES) June 20, 2021
The latter is intended to install six new generation solar panels, called iROSA, on the ISS.
On Wednesday, the two "mechanics" had started installing the first.
But the mission had been troubled by several setbacks, including concerns about Shane Kimbrough's suit.
"We will return to the void of space"
"We will return to the vacuum of space to finish the work of the 1st exit (deployment of the 1st solar panel) and to install the 2nd", detailed Thomas Pesquet on social networks.
Read alsoThomas Pesquet immortalizes Paris from the ISS
This is the fourth time that the two astronauts have floated together in zero gravity, having already carried out two side-by-side spacewalks in 2017, clinging to the Space Station spinning 400 km above the Earth, and one on Wednesday . This is the 240th spacewalk in the history of the ISS.