Watch astronauts embark on first spacewalk of 2023 as sun rises below space station
Two Expedition 68 crew members aboard the International Space Station set off on the first spacewalk of the year, just as the sun began to rise over the South Pacific.
At 8:14 a.m EST on Friday, Jan. 20, NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata exited the Quest airlock of the ISS to begin a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk.
The mission? The duo is installing mounting platforms on the right side of the space station’s truss, or structural beams. The project builds on a previous spacewalk that began the installation of a power channel that is needed for further upgrades, according to NASA.
The ISS Facebook page shared the astronauts’ entry into space in a video, and NASA is maintaining a YouTube livestream through the entirety of the walk. Mann is wearing an unmarked space suit and Wakata is wearing a space suit with red stripes.
The video shows Mann and Wakata exiting the ISS and moving toward their working positions where they will finish the previous installation of one power channel and begin the installation of another during their time outside the station.
The upgrades are part of a larger project to install new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, or iROSAs. So far, four of these panels have been installed, and with the completion of Mann and Wakata’s work, two more will be added.
Mann, who was born in California, was selected by NASA in 2013 and launched as commander of the NASA SpaceX Crew-5 mission on Oct. 5, 2022. Mann, who lives in Texas is also the first indigenous woman from NASA to go to space as a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes.
Koichi Wakata is a senior advisor and astronaut for JAXA, and has completed multiple missions in space. His first mission was a satellite retrieval in 1996, and he completed a long-duration stay aboard the ISS from November 2013 to May 2014.
This is the first spacewalk for both Mann and Wakata, NASA said.
This story was originally published January 20, 2023 at 12:49 PM with the headline "Watch astronauts embark on first spacewalk of 2023 as sun rises below space station."
