Finish the job.
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet returned safely to the interior of the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday after another spacewalk lasting more than six hours, devoted to the installation of new solar panels on the ISS.
This is Thomas Pesquet's fourth spacewalk, and the second on this mission, conducted with his American teammate Shane Kimbrough.
đŠâđ Pamela Melroy is confirmed as our next deputy administrator
đ°ď¸ The @Space_Station gets new solar arrays
đ New launch and landing dates for our @Commercial_Crew Program
All this & more on This Week @ NASA: https://t.co/4ax6eRlN7e pic.twitter.com/VpVV78t0Qj
- NASA (@NASA) June 20, 2021
At midday Sunday, the two men, who arrived on board the Station at the end of April, started up 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.
During 6:28, the astronauts finished positioning, fixing, connecting and deploying a first new generation solar panel, 19 meters long, and started installing a second.
Called iROSA, these solar panels are believed to boost the ISS's power generation capabilities and were delivered by a SpaceX freighter.
A new release on June 25
"The spacewalk carried out today by Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet officially ended at 2:10 pm" (8:10 pm in France), Nasa said.
The two "mechanics" had started installing the first solar panel on Wednesday.
But the mission had been troubled by several setbacks, including concerns about Shane Kimbrough's suit.
Read alsoHow Thomas Pesquet prepared for his spacewalks
"We are going to 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", had detailed Thomas Pesquet on social networks on Sunday morning, rejoicing at the prospect of 'an "incredible day".
đ Yesterday was a good day.
.
Yesterday was a good day đ # MondayMotivation #MissionAlpha https://t.co/IPKoy3o82n pic.twitter.com/vlUEw05EtQ
- Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) June 21, 2021
This Monday morning, he also posted a photo of himself in space, evoking âa good dayâ spent above the Earth.
VIDEO.
In the eye of Thomas Pesquet: his ten most beautiful photos of the Earth ... from space
NASA is planning a new spacewalk on June 25 for the duo to complete the installation of the second solar panel. Thomas Pesquet now counts 26 hours and 15 minutes spent in spacewalk. This is the fourth time that the two astronauts have floated together in zero gravity, clinging to the Space Station spinning 400 kilometers above the Earth, after having already carried out two spacewalks side by side in 2017, and one on Wednesday . This is the 240th spacewalk in the history of the ISS.
