Astronauts Nicole & Koichi on First Spacewalk | International Space Station

Astronauts Nicole & Koichi on First Spacewalk | International Space Station

Astronaut Koichi Wakata (Japan) during a seven-hour and 21-minute spacewalk

Astronaut Koichi Wakata (Japan) takes a "space-selfie" during a spacewalk

Astronaut Koichi Wakata (Japan) during a seven-hour and 21-minute spacewalk

Expedition 68 crew members after a spacewalk

Astronaut Nicole Mann in her spacesuit after a spacewalk

Astronaut Koichi Wakata (Japan) in his spacesuit after a spacewalk

Expedition 68 crew members after a spacewalk

Mann and Wakata completed work left over from a previous spacewalk for a platform on which a set of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs) for the station’s 1B power channel will be installed later this year, as well as most of the work to install a similar mounting platform for a set of iROSAs for the 1A power channel.

The installation is part of a series of spacewalks to augment the International Space Station’s power channels with new iROSAs. Four iROSAs have been installed so far, and two more will be mounted to the platforms installed during this spacewalk in the future.

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata concluded their spacewalk at 3:35 p.m. EST after 7 hours and 21 minutes. It was the 258th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, upgrades, and maintenance, the first spacewalk of 2023, and the first spacewalk for both astronauts.

Follow Expedition 68 crew updates at: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 68 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Anna Kikina & Dmitri Petelin

NASA: Flight Engineers Nicole Mann, Frank Rubio & Josh Cassada

JAXA (Japan): Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the  International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: Jan. 20, 2023 

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