Four days after a first spacewalk, Thomas Pesquet does it again.
The French astronaut and his American teammate Shane Kimbrough must complete the installation of new solar panels to increase the energy production capacities of the International Space Station (ISS).
This is Thomas Pesquet's fourth spacewalk, and the second of this mission.
At 11:42 a.m. GMT, the two men activated the internal battery of their suit, then opened the hatch of the decompression chamber of the ISS.
Thomas Pesquet came out into the void first.
"Spacewalk, episode 2, Another long but incredible day awaits us with Shane Kimbrough," tweeted the Frenchman a few hours before the start of the mission.
Spacewalk, episode ✌️ Another long but incredible day awaits us with @astro_kimbrough, and one that would be impossible without teamwork, both outside and inside @Space_Station and on the ground 💪 #MissionAlpha
👉 https://t.co/wSJXPPo3ES pic.twitter.com/sV6zzjDYjK
- Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) June 20, 2021
"Finish the job"
Their mission is to install six new generation solar panels called iROSA.
Wednesday, the two "mechanics" had started installing the first.
But the operation had been troubled by several setbacks, in particular because of problems related to the combination of Shane Kimbrough.
"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 2nd", wrote Thomas Pesquet on social networks.
This is the fourth time that the two astronauts have floated together in zero gravity, having already performed two side-by-side spacewalks in 2017, clinging to the Space Station spinning 400 kilometers above Earth, and another Wednesday.
This is the 240th spacewalk in the history of the ISS.
With AFP
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