{"id":11824,"date":"2021-03-06T01:30:26","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T17:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rubins-and-noguchi-assemble-solar-array-support-fixtures-outside-space-station\/"},"modified":"2021-03-06T01:30:26","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T17:30:26","slug":"rubins-and-noguchi-assemble-solar-array-support-fixtures-outside-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rubins-and-noguchi-assemble-solar-array-support-fixtures-outside-space-station\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubins and Noguchi assemble solar array support fixtures outside space station"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:&nbsp;<\/strong>Updated at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT) after end of spacewalk.<\/p>\n<p>STORY WRITTEN FOR&nbsp;CBS NEWS&nbsp;&amp; USED WITH PERMISSION<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_50495\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50495\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50495\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/eva72_1pic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/eva72_1pic.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/eva72_1pic-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/eva72_1pic-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/eva72_1pic-678x377.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-50495\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Astronaut Soichi Noguchi works outside the International Space Station on Friday. Credit: NASA TV\/Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Soichi Noguchi, a Japanese astronaut who last walked in space more than 15 years ago, ventured outside the International Space Station Friday and completed assembly of two solar array support fixtures, part of a $100 million power system upgrade.<\/p>\n<p>After handling multiple struts and bolts, Rubins reported a small pin-prick \u201chole\u201d in one of her gloves and while there was no leakage and no emergency, she expressed concern about moving too far from Noguchi for additional work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a hole in my right index finger through the RTV (insulation),\u201d she told astronaut Frank Rubio in mission control. \u201cIt\u2019s unchanged in appearance. And we have a middle finger peeling, my right middle finger, and \u2026 gaps in the RTV on my left middle finger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With installation of the solar array support fixtures complete, Rubio asked how she felt about leaving Noguchi, moving back to the space station airlock to drop off tools and then heading out to the European Columbus laboratory module to complete electrical connections for a recently installed experiment platform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is kind of a pinprick hole versus RTV peeling,\u201d Rubins replied. \u201cSo I\u2019m mildly concerned about going real far from Soichi.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rubins\u2019 suit maintained the proper pressure throughout, but given time lost earlier assembling the solar array supports, flight controllers opted to call it a day without pressing ahead with work to finish wiring up the experiment platform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that\u2019s a good plan,\u201d Rubins said. \u201cThanks, Frank.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1367893526068011012&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2021%2F03%2F05%2Fus-eva-72%2F&amp;sessionId=b9fb28d39e07de41038bf6d0fe71f5838a45c267&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1367893526068011012\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782469201665536507=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Astronaut Kate Rubins reports a \u201cpinpoint\u201d hole in the glove of her spacesuit, but there\u2019s no leak as she and Soichi Noguchi wrap up a spacewalk at the International Space Station.<\/p>\n<p>Rubins said she is \u201cmildly concerned\u201d about getting too far from Noguchi.https:\/\/t.co\/ZMAK42GG6H pic.twitter.com\/a6YjQT5ksc<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) March 5, 2021<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The work began at 6:37 a.m. EST when the astronauts switched their suits to battery power, officially kicking off the year\u2019s fourth spacewalk, the 236th since station assembly began in 1998.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat a view!\u201d Noguchi said as he floated out of the airlock some 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n<p>It was the fourth spacewalk for Rubins, including one last Sunday with crewmate Victor Glover to begin the assembly of the solar array fixtures. It also was the fourth spacewalk for Noguchi, whose last excursion came in 2005 during the first post-Columbia shuttle mission.<\/p>\n<p>Last Sunday, Rubins and Glover installed the first of two new solar array support fixtures at the base of the lab\u2019s far left set of solar wings. The fixtures are designed to support new roll-out solar blankets that will be installed later to boost the station\u2019s power generation.<\/p>\n<p>But the astronauts had problems fully seating two bolts connecting struts in the Tinker Toy-like fixture. Rubins and Noguchi first finished assembly of the second solar array support and used a torque wrench to tighten up the bolts in the first assembly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmazing! I\u2019m so happy to see that black line,\u201d Rubins said, referring to an indicator showing the second bolt was fully seated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s amazing what a little torque can do,\u201d Rubio replied.<\/p>\n<p>The flight plan then called for Rubins to venture to the front of the European Space Agency\u2019s Columbus laboratory module where the external experiment platform \u2014 Bartolomeo \u2014 is attached. While she worked to complete electrical connections, Noguchi planned to install a replacement wireless video transceiver attached to the central Unity module.<\/p>\n<p>But given the time lost with the solar array assembly work, those tasks were deferred to a future spacewalk. Rubins and Noguchi returned to the airlock and repressurization began at 1:33 p.m., bringing the 6-hour 56-minute excursion to a close.<\/p>\n<p>NASA plans to install six new ISS roll-out solar arrays, or IROSA, blankets that are scheduled for delivery later this year and next aboard SpaceX Dragon cargo ships. Additional spacewalks will be needed to install additional support fixtures and, eventually, the new roll-out blankets.<\/p>\n<p>The space station is equipped with four primary solar array wings, two on each side of the lab\u2019s power truss. Each wing is made up of two 39-foot-wide blankets extending 112 feet in opposite directions. The first two-blanket wing was launched in December 2000 with additional pairs delivered in 2006, 2007 and 2009.<\/p>\n<p>Solar cells degrade over time and NASA is adding six new blankets, at a cost of $103 million, to the existing power system. Each one of the new IROSA blankets measure 20 feet wide by 63 feet long when fully extended, generating more than 20 kilowatts.<\/p>\n<p>The two support fixtures, or \u201cmod kits,\u201d assembled last Sunday and Friday will carry two of the new arrays at the far left end of the station\u2019s power truss, tilting them at an angle so the new panels and the original arrays get sunlight.<\/p>\n<p>Combined with the 95 kilowatt output of the original eight panels, the station\u2019s upgraded system will provide about 215 kilowatts of power, enough for NASA-sponsored research and anticipated commercial activity between now and the end of the decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:&nbsp;Updated at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT) after end of spacewalk. STORY WRITTEN FOR&nbsp;CBS NEWS&nbsp;&amp; USED WITH PERMISSION Astronaut Soichi Noguchi works outside the International Space Station on Friday. Credit: NASA TV\/Spaceflight Now NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Soichi Noguchi, a Japanese astronaut who last walked in space more than 15 years ago, ventured [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1835,1854,1748,1545,717,1546,377,877],"class_list":["post-11824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-bartolomeo","tag-eva-72","tag-expedition-64","tag-human-spaceflight","tag-international-space-station","tag-irosa","tag-japan","tag-jaxa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}