Astronauts lose tool bag in orbit

NASA Astronauts Yasmine Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara completed their spacewalk today at 2:47 p.m EST After 6 hours and 42 minutes. Their spacewalk began at 8:05 a.m., with Moghbeli, crew member EV1, wearing a red-striped suit. O’Hara, the crew member assigned to Extravehicular 2 (EV 2), was wearing an unmarked suit.

Moghbeli and O’Hara were able to complete one of the two main goals of the spacewalk, which was to replace one of the 12 bearing assemblies on the port’s alpha solar rotor joint, which allows the arrays to track the sun and generate electricity to power the station. Mission Control told the station crew that the solar array was working fine after the bearing was replaced. The astronauts also removed the handling bar mount to prepare for future installation of the rolling solar array and properly configured a cable that previously interfered with an external camera.

Deferred tasks and the tool bag mishap

The astronauts had planned to remove and store a communications electronics box called a radio frequency array, but there was not enough time during the spacewalk to complete the work. The duo removed some of the multi-layer insulation to better assess how the mission would handle before replacing the insulation and deferring the mission to a future spacewalk.

(From left) Astronauts Yasmine Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara are photographed donning their spacesuits and testing their suit components aboard the space station. Credit: NASA

During the activity, one tool bag was accidentally lost. Flight controllers spotted the instrument bag using the station’s external cameras. No instruments were needed for the rest of the spacewalk. Mission Control analyzed the bag’s path and determined that the risk of reconnecting with the station was low and that the crew on board and the space station were safe without any action required.

Upcoming missions and resupply launches

Moghbeli and O’Hara are in the midst of a science mission, living and working aboard the Microgravity Laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.

NASA and SpaceX It is now targeting 9:16 PM EST on Tuesday, November 7, to launch the company’s 29th commercial resupply services mission to International Space Station. The extra time allows final pre-launch processing to be completed before the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo spacecraft lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA’s television coverage of the launch will begin at 8:45 p.m. The spacecraft carrying approximately 6,500 pounds of supplies, research and instrumentation will arrive at the space station shortly before 12 noon on Thursday, November 9, and coverage will begin at 10:15. I be