A mighty powerful spacewalk outside the space
station …
A look at the space station’s next crew
…
And updates on our Artemis program … a few
of the stories to tell you about – This
Week at NASA!
On July 1, our Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken
were outside the International Space Station
for their second spacewalk in less than a
week.
“You have control of the battery.”
“I do.
I’m in a good spot.”
The pair continued upgrading power systems
on the station … replacing aging nickel-hydrogen
(NiH2) batteries with new lithium-ion (Li-Ion)
batteries.
The battery upgrades are expected to continue
on future spacewalks, with target dates and
times to be announced once mission planners
assess the scope of the remaining work to
be done.
“You really feel it when you arrive at the
space station and see this hardware, and see
these modules put together and flying in space.
It’s one of the most incredible engineering
achievements, I think that humanity has done.”
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins discussed her upcoming
second mission to the space station, during
a July 1 press conference at our Johnson Space
Center in Houston.
She was joined by Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey
Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency
Roscosmos.
The trio is targeted to launch to the station
Oct. 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
NASA is working with contractor Northrop Grumman
on building Space Launch System (SLS) solid
rocket boosters to support as many as six
additional flights, for a total of up to nine.
Northrop Grumman is the current lead contractor
for the boosters that will launch the first
three Artemis missions, including the one
that will land the first woman and next man
on the Moon in 2024.
“Three, Two, One … (explosive sound)”
We’ve wrapped up testing on the Orion Structural
Test Article – a twin copy of the spacecraft
- needed to verify Orion is ready for Artemis
I.
The testing, which began in early 2017, was
designed to thoroughly evaluate Orion’s
ability to withstand the stresses of launch,
climb to orbit, harsh conditions of deep space
transit, and return to Earth.
Engineers completed the Space Launch System
(SLS) rocket’s structural testing campaign
for Artemis missions by applying millions
of pounds of force to the rocket’s liquid
oxygen structural test tank.
The tank failed within the parameters expected,
proving flight readiness and providing critical
data.
The SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, Gateway
and Human Landing System are part of NASA’s
backbone for Artemis – our next step in
human space exploration.
That’s what’s up this week @NASA …
For more on these and other stories, follow
us on the web at nasa.gov/twan.
