NASA astronauts completed their spacewalk on Tuesday morning outside the International Space Station (ISS) in preparation for the installation of solar array upgrades.

The two first-time spacewalkers, Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio began their endeavor in space at 9:14 a.m. ET and ended it at 4:25 p.m. ET, which totaled seven hours and 11 minutes. Cassada was identifiable as the astronaut wearing the spacesuit with red stripes as extravehicular crew member 1.

Solar Array Upgrades

The two individuals conducted the spacewalk to assemble a mounting bracket on the starboard side of the ISS' truss against the backdrop of spectacular views of our planet Earth. The hardware that the astronauts installed was sent to the space station on Nov. 9 carried by a Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft.

The equipment would allow for the installation of additional rollout solar arrays, known as iROSAs, that would give the space station a power boost. The first two of such equipment were installed on the exterior of the station in June 2021. In total, six iROSAs have been planned to be installed that would likely boost the ISS' power generation by more than 30%, as per CNN.

Two more spacewalks are scheduled for November 28 and December 1, where a two-astronaut crew will unroll and work on installing another pair of solar arrays once the mounting hardware is set in place. The equipment will be delivered on the next SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply mission that is currently scheduled for November 21.

Spacewalks are an integral part of the International Space Station's crew's routine as they work on maintaining and upgrading the aging orbital laboratory. However, the spacewalk on Tuesday was NASA's first since March earlier this year.

According to NASA, the two astronauts deferred some planned tasks associated with the completion of the modification kit. This included the installation of collars and the routing of cables for the 1B power channel.

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NASA Spacewalks

The recent endeavor marked the 254th spacewalk in support of the ISS' assembly, upgrades, and maintenance, also being the first for both spacewalkers. Cassada and Rubio will spend the next six months as part of a science mission where they will live and work aboard the microgravity laboratory.

The astronauts aim to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration endeavors. These include lunar missions through NASA's Artemis program.

Cassada and Rubio were not the only astronauts who took a spacewalk this week, as on Thursday, Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin are set to go out into open space to work on the exterior of the station's Russian-built Nauka laboratory module.

The Russian cosmonauts are expected to spend roughly the same time as Cassada and Rubio, about seven hours, working to prepare a radiator on the ISS' Rassvet module for a transfer to the Nauka lab. Furthermore, the spacewalk involving Prokopyev and Petelin will be webcast live online by NASA, with streaming services opening the lines at 9:00 a.m. EST on Thursday, Space reported.

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