Both NASA crew members are veteran spacecraft at this time. Glover has already held two spaceships since arriving at the space station in November. This will be his third.
Rubins previously held spacewalks during her first rotation on the space station in 2016, so this will also be her third.
If this Sunday’s space walk seems earlier than the previous space walks – especially since it’s taking place this weekend – well, it is. But “it’s not really a kind of program from Monday to Friday,” Kenny Todd, deputy director of the International Space Station program, recalled during a news conference on Wednesday.
Rubins and Glover will make preparations for upgrading the solar power supply by assembling and installing adaptation kits.
While the station’s current solar power plants are still functioning well, they are degrading. The deterioration is expected because they only have a lifespan of about 15 years and were installed in December 2000. They have, so to speak, exceeded the guarantee.
Brand new solar power plants will be placed in front of six of the arrays currently at the station later this year, increasing the station’s power from 160 kilowatts to 215 kilowatts, according to NASA. The solar power plants will start in June with a SpaceX vehicle to the space station.
During the spacewalk, Rubins will be crew member 1 in the suit wearing red stripes, and Glover will be crew member 2 in a suit without stripes.
Rubins will also join Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi on March 5 for a spaceflight to complete a number of tasks, including the evacuation of ammonia from the Early Ammonia System, replacing a wireless video receiver assembly and installation of a “stiffener”. on the Quest air cap. This will prevent the cover from blowing out when the atmosphere escapes when the hatch is opened.
This will be the 235th spacewalk in the station’s history.
From Earth to Space
“Victor, it’s so good to see you, the history you do, we’m so proud of you,” Harris said.
Glover is the first African-American to fly a long-term mission to the space station in the history of the orbital laboratory.
During their conversation, Harris and Glover discussed those who came before Glover and inspired him.
“I think about it often,” Glover said. “All seven of us here are part of an incredible legacy of human spaceflight. It’s a time we should celebrate and appreciate, but what I’m most excited about is the future of human spaceflight and the fact “That’s going to be the future. That’s what we’re going to do. We want to make sure we can continue to do new things.”
Harris agreed. “My mother would say to me, ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do a lot of things. Make sure you’re not the last.’ “
When asked by Harris Glover about his first two spaceships and his perspective on Earth, Glover said he took the advice of his fellow crew members to ‘keep your world small, keep your focus on the thing right in front of you and expand it. slowly from worldview. “
The first time he saw the earth during a spacewalk, he wanted to enjoy it for hours, Glover said. But he focused on the many tasks ahead, and the space walk was ‘busy and beautiful’.
Glover also talked about how fragile the earth looks from space, especially our thin atmosphere and ‘how special it is that there is human life on this planet.’
“It makes me do everything in my power to protect it,” Glover said.