Miami – The astronauts Jessica Meirfrom NASA, and Sophie Adenotfrom the European Space Agency (ESA), began a walk outside the International Space Station (ISS) this Tuesday to change a reflector that guides the docking of the spacecraft and prepare a cosmic particle detector.
The spacewalk began around 8:40 am Eastern Time in the United States and the work will last about six and a half hours, according to the US agency NASA.
The reflector is in the front port of the Harmony module and serves as a reference for the spacecraft to orient themselves when approaching and docking with the station.
The American Meir and the French Adenot will also install bridge cables to reinforce the data retransmission systems and will replace a high-definition camera in the structure of the orbital laboratory, in accordance with the plan established by the agency.
They will also prepare the radiator of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a cosmic particle detector that since 2011 has been searching for traces of dark matter and antimatter outside the station, for the improvements it will receive later.
Meir will work on the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which will be operated from inside by astronaut Anil Menon, while Adenot will move strapped to the outside of the orbital laboratory.
The flight engineer Jack Hathaway He will monitor the activity from inside and help the two put on and take off their suits.
This is the seventh spacewalk for Meir, station commander, and the third for Adenot, who on August 18 became the first French woman to walk in space.
With this departure, Meir becomes the third NASA astronaut with the most spacewalks, behind Peggy Whitson, with ten, and Suni Williams, with nine.
It is the 284th walk conducted in support of the assembly, maintenance and improvement of the station, and the 99th by United States astronauts.
In August, the station added three spacewalks: on the 6th, Meir and Menon prepared the connection of new solar panels, while on the 18th and 25th Menon and Adenot installed a high-speed communications antenna.