Power upgrade spacewalk begins for French, US astronauts
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet floated into space on his first-ever spacewalk on Friday, on a mission to help upgrade the power system outside the International Space Station with new, refrigerator-sized lithium-ion batteries.
This is Pesquet’s first foray into the vacuum of space
Wearing a white spacesuit with the French flag emblazoned on one shoulder, Pesquet and American astronaut Shane Kimbrough switched on their spacesuits’ internal battery power to mark the official start of the spacewalk at 6.22am, more than a half hour earlier than scheduled.
“This is Pesquet’s first foray into the vacuum of space,” a Nasa commentator said as a live broadcast from the US space agency showed Pesquet’s booted feet dangling out of the airlock as he made his way outside.
The men’s goal for the six-and-a-half hour spacewalk is to connect adapter plates for three modern lithium-ion batteries. The new batteries weigh about 194kg each, and replace older, but far lighter, nickel hydrogen batteries.
The batteries’ role is to store power for the orbiting lab as it flies in Earth shadow.
The space station travels at a speed of more than 27,350km/h, and circles the Earth about every 90 minutes, periodically moving through light and darkness.
The power upgrade work was begun earlier this month during a spacewalk by Kimbrough and American astronaut Peggy Whitson. Eventually, all 48 of the old batteries on board will be replaced with new ones.
