A spacewalk on the Worldwide House Station (ISS) deliberate for Tuesday, August 24, has been postponed due a medical concern affecting one of many two collaborating astronauts.
The house company introduced the information on Monday, explaining that NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who arrived on the orbiting outpost in April 2021, was experiencing a “minor medical concern,” including that it was “not a medical emergency.”
With spacewalks requiring astronauts to work in a cumbersome spacesuit in a difficult atmosphere for round seven hours at a time, these participating must be in tip-top situation earlier than stepping exterior the confines of the house station.
The spacewalk, which Vande Hei will perform with Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, will now happen after the SpaceX CRS-23 cargo resupply launch that’s deliberate for August 28, and likewise following two scheduled spacewalks involving Russian cosmonauts which can be anticipated to happen in early September.
Vande Hei isn’t scheduled to depart the ISS till March 2022, so there’s loads of time for him to conduct the spacewalk. Nevertheless it’s a bit of tighter for Hoshide, who’s set to go away in early November 2021. Nonetheless, the postponed stroll may happen as early as mid- to late September.
Tuesday’s postponed spacewalk would have seen the 2 astronauts proceed work to improve the station’s energy system with the set up of a assist bracket for brand spanking new rollout arrays. Two of the brand new arrays have already been put in place, with one other 4 awaiting set up.
Each Vande Hei and Hoshide spent the final week making ready for the spacewalk — or extravehicular exercise to make use of NASA’s official terminology for such occasions — inclusing checking their spacesuits, establishing their instruments, and reviewing procedures for the tour.
In line with a tweet (beneath) from the ISS Twitter account, the preparations have been going based on plan as of Saturday, August 21. However a while after that, Vande Hei suffered a medical concern that prompted NASA to take motion.
The Exp 65 crew goes into the weekend making ready for Tuesday's spacewalk whereas juggling a mess of house analysis. https://t.co/K6HMCDxhjs
— Worldwide House Station (@Space_Station) August 20, 2021
As quickly as we get information of a brand new date for the spacewalk, we’ll make sure you replace our “the right way to watch” web page detailing every part it’s worthwhile to learn about the right way to tune in to the occasion in actual time.
Within the meantime, try these gorgeous photos of spacewalks from through the years.
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