It was the 259th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, upgrades, and maintenance, the 2nd spacewalk of 2023, and the second spacewalk for both astronauts.
Mann and Wakata remain in the midst of a prepared six-month science objective living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions, consisting of to the Moon through NASAs Artemis objectives.
By NASA
February 2, 2023
Spacewalkers Koichi Wakata (top) and Nicole Mann (bottom) deal with the starboard truss structure to update the space stations power generation system. Credit: NASA
NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata concluded their spacewalk at 2:26 p.m. EST after 6 hours and 41 minutes.
Mann and Wakata completed their significant goal for today, which was to complete the construction of an installing platform on the 1A power channel that was started throughout a spacewalk on January 20. In addition, they relocated an articulating portable foot restraint from the P6 truss for future spacewalk tasks and deployed cable televisions for the installation of the next set of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs).
Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is pictured in his Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), or spacesuit, throughout a seven-hour and 21-minute spacewalk on January 20, 2023, to install a modification kit on the International Space Stations starboard truss structure preparing the orbital laboratory for its next roll-out solar selection. Credit: NASA
The installation belonged to a series of spacewalks to augment the stations power channels with new iROSAs. Four iROSAs have actually been installed so far, and two additional selections will be mounted to the installed platforms throughout future spacewalks following their arrival later on this year on SpaceXs 28th industrial resupply services mission for NASA.