Astronauts Conduct the First Spacewalks of the Year

 

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Astronauts Conduct the First Spacewalks of the Year

NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins ventured outside the International Space Station on Wednesday, Jan. 27, for the first spacewalk of the year! What did they do out in the vastness of space? They finish installing a European science platform and complete long-term battery upgrade work. It was the first spacewalk for Glover and the third for Hopkins. In the second spacewalk of the year conducted on Feb. 1, Glover and Hopkins completed work to replace batteries that provide power for the station’s solar arrays and upgrade several of the station’s external cameras! The spacewalk concluded after a little more than 5 hours. Two additional spacewalks are planned for the near future. During the next spacewalk, Glover and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will work outside the station to prepare its power system for the installation of new solar arrays to increase the station’s existing power supply. Stay tuned!

Learn About the Spacewalks

This Week in Space

Remembering Fallen Heroes – Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, marked 35 years since the Challenger tragedy, that took the lives of all seven crew members aboard. The agency marked the anniversary with the annual Day of Remembrance, featuring ceremonies at Johnson Space Center in Texas, Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Day of Remembrance also honors the legacies of the crews who perished aboard Apollo 1 in 1967 and Columbia in 2003, as well as the memories of all members of the NASA family who have lost their lives in pursuit of exploration. In a message to employees, Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk wrote, “Space exploration is one of the most complex endeavors undertaken by humanity and space itself is unforgiving – but we persevere. In saying ‘Space is hard,’ we acknowledge these challenges, we commit ourselves to learning from failure and tragedy, and we declare our intention to move forward.” Learn More About our Fallen Heroes

Perseverance Approaches Mars – Our Mars rover Perseverance is less than three weeks away from landing on the Red Planet. On Wednesday, Jan. 27, engineers and mission managers gave a live update on the mission and previewed its upcoming objectives, including searching for signs of ancient microbial life. Discover Mission Details About Perseverance

Orion Welding Underway – Engineers at our Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have welded together key components of the Orion crew capsule that will be used on Artemis III, the mission that will take the first woman and next man to the Moon’s surface. Once primary structure welding is complete, Orion will be shipped to our Kennedy Space Center for further assembly this fall. See the Progress

Boeing Targets New Launch Date– Boeing and NASA have announced the second uncrewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will launch no earlier than March 25. Orbital Flight Test-2, or OFT-2, is a critical milestone for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program as the agency teams up with commercial partners to fly crewed missions to the International Space Station. Stay Updated

SpaceX Sets Launch Date for Crew-2 – SpaceX and NASA have announced the target launch date of no earlier than April 20 for Crew-2, the second crew rotation mission with astronauts launching to the International Space Station. Crew-2 will be the first mission to fly two international partner crew members as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Learn More

Greenland Ice Melting– Scientists with the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) mission have discovered that glaciers in Greenland’s deep fjords account for nearly half of all ice loss as previously monitored by satellites. Learn More

NASA Selects Science Activation Proposals – We’re funding 30 awards across the U.S to implement the next phase of Science Activation—a community-based approach to connect science with learners of all ages. The selections will support the science discipline areas of Earth science, astrophysics, planetary science, and heliophysics. Check Out the New Awardees

People Profile

Meet Chloe Sackier from our Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. Sackier is currently a mission engineer for our upcoming Perseverance rover Mars landing mission! She will be taking your questions all about the rover landing on the Red Planet in a Tumblr Answer Time session Feb. 4 from 12-1pm ET. Ask your questions now by visiting: http://tumblr.co/6008Hbg5K #CountdownToMars

Learn About NASA Careers

Image Spotlight

Let’s go for a stroll! NASA spacewalker and Expedition 64 Flight Engineer Victor Glover is pictured here attached to the Canadarm2 robotic arm after he jettisoned an antenna cover towards Earth. The cover protected the Columbus Ka-antenna during its installation to the Columbus lab module. This marked Victor Glover’s first spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Credit: NASA Johnson

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