The International Space Station now has a door that will let crews float in from the commercial space taxis that SpaceX and Boeing are building, thanks to a almost six-hour spacewalk.
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The spacewalk was the fourth for Williams, a veteran astronaut who on Wednesday will surpass USA astronaut Scott Kelly s record for the most cumulative days in space for an American. It is the 194th spacewalk for the space station.
International Space Station astronauts Kate Rubins and Jeff Williams are now in spacewalk and are expected to remain outside of the ISS for hours.
NASA calls the new adapter “a metaphorical gateway to a future” as it will bring future astronaut crews riding on NASA’s first human-rated spacecraft since the space shuttle, Space X’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Boeing’s CST-100 to the ISS.
Williams will undertake such a spacewalk for the fourth time in his career, and for Rubins this will be the first time.
The adapter is developed by Boeing which is circular in shape, with the height of 42 inches and width of 63 inches.
“Commercial crew flights from Florida’s Space Coast to the International Space Station will restore America’s human spaceflight launch capability and increase the time USA crews can dedicate to scientific research, which is helping prepare astronauts for deep space missions, including the journey to Mars”, NASA said in a statement.
On Friday, astronauts Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins will perform a spacewalk on the International Space Station to install a one-size-fits-all docking adapter that can connect with a variety commercially operated spacecraft.
The new adaptor is more sophisticated than past equipment as it will enable automatic parking instead of the grapple and berthing process, NASA said.
“W$3 e’re very excited to get that milestone checked and get to the point where we can have crews launch from different places around Earth and servicing the station”, Kenny Todd, NASA space station operations manager at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, told CBS News.
Did You Know: Today’s spacewalk is the 194th for the International Space Station.
The second addition of the docking adaptor will be worked upon by 2018.
A docking ring was supposed to reach the station last summer. “We have hardware being built all across the country … we’re in what I’d call the very very difficult, hard phase of development”.
It was the latest in a series of spacesuit issues, but was not as severe as an emergency in 2013 when Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano’s helmet flooded, forcing him to end his spacewalk early, Todd said.
“OK Kate, come on out”, said Williams.
Astronauts unsuccessfully tried to push it back into position past year.
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“We are still learning how to use this suit and how to care for them in a zero-gravity environment – and it is not the same as what we do on the ground”.
