Two U.S. astronauts on Friday ventured out of the International Space Station and successfully installed the first of two crucial docking ports that will enable future arrivals of American commercial crew spacecraft.
Advertisement
At 8:04 a.m. EDT, according to Space, Expedition 48 commander Jeff Williams and flight engineer Kate Rubins switched their suits to battery power and began the first leg of a 6-hour space walk.
The two NASA astronauts installed the first of two global docking adapters, or IDAs, which will enable the station to accommodate practically any aircraft and let new arrivals in, including new SpaceX and Boeing vehicles. This will be the fourth spacewalk for Jeff Williams, the first for Kate Rubins, and the 194th for the International Space Station.
SpaceX and Boeing expect to resume human launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in another year or two.
Rubins and Williams will perform another spacewalk on September 1 to revoke a solar array cooling panel no longer in use, as well as to install a television camera on the exterior frame of the ISS. The new addition will allow NASA to launch their astronauts through private aerospace manufacturers in the USA, instead of through their long-time competitor, Russia.
“Without the docking adapter, we’re not going to get any of these vehicles on board station”, said Bob Behnken, one of four potential NASA test pilots, during a recent visit to Kennedy Space Center.
“The view is phenomenal”, Rubins said, as she exited the space station’s Quest airlock.
Nasa ultimately wants two of these ports at the lab. SpaceX has been running resupply missions to the ISS since 2012, and starting next year, the space travel company will join Boeing in breaking Russia’s monopoly on space taxis.
The International Docking Adapter (IDA) has been built by Boeing that will help spacecraft from both the organizations to bring crews to the outpost.
SpaceX is shooting for a launch of its supped-up Dragon with two astronauts a year from now. This is also the first time the EV astronauts will receive a “handoff” of equipment from the space station’s robotic arm, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM).
NASA divested itself of cargo deliveries a few years back, hiring private US companies to carry out shipments.
“With that, we have a new port of call”, Nasa commentator Rob Navias said as the space station flew over Singapore at 10.40am. He joins us to talk about his time in space. NASA will provide most if not all of the initial test pilots.
Advertisement
A replacement docking port is under construction and expected to be delivered to the station in early 2018.
