Duo of Spacewalking Astronauts Victoriously Upgrade ISS’s Power System with New Batteries

The duo of onboard cosmonauts of Expedition 50, successfully upgraded the power system of International Space Station (ISS) during their momentous venture outside of the station. The spacewalking, which commenced on 6th January 2017, at 7.23 am EST by Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson, ended up upgrading the battery section of the station. Friday, the spacewalking astronauts, successfully replaced the old batteries of the station and hooked up new and powerful batteries on the extensive power grid of the International Space Station.

NASA, the operating head of the mission confirmed the successful completion of the mission over this weekend. As said by NASA, the duo of astronauts effectively replaced the old batteries with three new powerful batteries. Now, all three lithium-ion batteries are operating efficiently, and with this, the organization has got a triumphant kick start to the long-term attempt of improving the old solar power system. Before walking out the station, the Chief flight Commander Shane Kimbrough and the oldest woman on space – Peggy Whitson assisted by a robot, called Dextre, a bulky machine with 11-foot arms that handled the majority of the mumble task.

The US-born veteran astronaut Shane Kimbrough and the American biochemistry researcher and NASA’s cosmonaut Peggy Whitson ventured out of the ISS for more than six hours and the mission was to install three battery adapter plates for upgrading the power segment of the station and constitute electrical connections in grounding for a fresh set of batteries for their installation on the space station. While the mission of battery replacement was planned for six hours, the veteran spacewalkers reached their goals in a little more than four hours, leaving sufficient time to conclude three other “get-ahead” operations. During the spacewalk, the astronauts also snapped few pictures of the space.

As said by NASA, currently, the ISS has all 48 nickel-hydrogen batteries and the agency is expecting to take two to three years to replace all the batteries and fully upgrade the solar power system of the ISS. The newly installed lithium-ion batteries are so well-organized that only 24 can be served out the effort of 48 batteries, saving liberty for other elements throughout supply runs.

After spending Six and a half hours outside the ISS, Kimbrough said, “I look forward to carrying out such missions yet again.”