Monday, September 3, 2012

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Aki Hoshide participates in an Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) outside of the International Space Station (ISS), on August 30, 2012.
NASA / Sunita Williams

Photos of the Day... Last Thursday, the first spacewalk to be initiated from the U.S. Quest airlock since the shuttle flight STS-134 in May of 2011 was conducted at the International Space Station (ISS). The Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) was the third longest in NASA history. The EVA lasted 8 hours, 17 minutes...while the record holder (which took place during an ISS assembly mission back in 2001) had a length of 8 hours, 56 minutes.

NASA is planning a contingency EVA for this Wednesday since spacewalkers Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hoshide were unable to install a new Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) into the ISS' power grid last week. The MBSU is crucial to the station in that it allows the orbital outpost to draw electricity from all 8 of its 115-foot-long solar arrays. The ISS is currently receiving power from 5 of the arrays.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams (center frame) and JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide (seen as silhouette to the right of Williams) participate in an EVA outside of the ISS, on August 30, 2012.
NASA

Backdropped over Andros Island and other parts of the Bahamas, Sunita Williams and Aki Hoshide participate in an EVA outside of the ISS on August 30, 2012.
NASA

The Kibo, Harmony and Columbus modules are visible in this shot of the ISS...photographed during the EVA on August 30, 2012.
NASA
Posted by Richard Par at 10:11 AM
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