They are intended to increase the energy production capacities of the International Space Station (ISS).
It is to complete the installation of solar panels that the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet began this Sunday a new spacewalk with his American teammate Shane Kimbrough.
This is Thomas Pesquet's fourth spacewalk, and the second during this mission.
At the end of the morning, the two men activated the internal battery of their suit, then opened the hatch of the decompression chamber of the ISS.
Thomas Pesquet went out into the void first, followed by his teammate.
Thomas Pesquet tweeted hours before release
“Extra-vehicular outing, episode 2, Another long but incredible day awaits us with Shane Kimbrough,” the Frenchman tweeted a few hours before the start of this mission. This latest release is intended to install six new generation solar panels, called iROSA, on the ISS. On Wednesday, the two "mechanics" had started installing the first. But the mission had been troubled by several setbacks, including concerns about Shane Kimbrough's suit. "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 second", detailed Thomas Pesquet on social networks.
This is the fourth time that the two astronauts have floated together in zero gravity, having already carried out two side-by-side spacewalks in 2017, clinging to the Space Station spinning 400 kilometers above Earth, and one on Wednesday .
This is the 240th spacewalk in the history of the ISS.
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