NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot concluded their spacewalk outside the International Space Station at 3:29 p.m. EDT.
During the 6-hour, 49-minute spacewalk, Meir and Adenot installed a new retroflector on the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module to support spacecraft navigation during rendezvous and docking operations. The duo replaced a high-definition camera on the station’s truss and completed a swab of the space station’s exterior for microorganisms. They also partially completed work to install jumper cables for electrical systems and started work to prepare for the replacement of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer’s heat-rejecting radiator on a future spacewalk.
Mission Control deferred installing the remaining guide studs for the spectrometer’s replacement radiator so engineers can develop a plan to finish the work during a future spacewalk. As the crew fell behind the timeline, the mission control team also shifted completion of the remaining jumper cables and other noncritical tasks to a later date.
During the spacewalk, Adenot experienced some mobility issues with her left arm. Meir took a look at Adenot’s suit and determined the glove heater harness was likely getting caught and causing limited movement in the left shoulder joint. Unzipping the joint seemed to resolve the issue ahead of the crew entering the airlock.
U.S. spacewalk 99 was Meir’s seventh and Adenot’s third. Meir now ranks third all-time among woman at NASA for total spacewalks, behind Peggy Whitson (10) and Suni Williams (9). It also was the 284th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
It also was the 284th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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