Astronauts Anne McClain and Nick Hague worked outside the International Space Station Friday to swap in powerful new batteries for the lab’s solar array power system, a task that started back in 2017. The two began their six-hour 39-minute excursion at 8:01 a.m. EDT, floating out of the Quest airlock to mark the 214th spacewalk since station assembly began in 1998. Their goal was to finish a job already started by flight controllers remotely operating the station’s robot arm, which is to replace six large nickel-hydrogen batteries on the port, or left, side of the station’s power truss with three more powerful 300-pound lithium-ion batteries. There’s another extravehicular activity mission planned next Friday. Read more for the entire spacewalk video.
“McClain and Hague had to install three 75-pound adapter plates and cables needed to tie the new batteries into the station’s electrical grid. The plates also provided mounting points allowing two of the older batteries to be stored there indefinitely. The rest will be mounted on a pallet for disposal aboard a future cargo ship,” reports CBS News.
