Oleg Novitskiy / Roscosmos
Around three hours ago, spacewalking astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Shane Kimbrough successfully deployed the first set of six new solar arrays that will provide additional power to the International Space Station (ISS). The 63-foot-long (19.2-meters-long) wings took at least six minutes to unfold. As someone who actually works in the entertainment industry (but obviously loves blogging about space stuff), I found today's milestone very cool due to the fact that some of my past assignments took place near the Southern California facility which built the iROSA (ISS Roll-Out Solar Array) panels.
Here comes the sun (powered energy)! 🌞@Space_Station has a new solar array after @Astro_Kimbrough and @Thom_astro remove the bolts to let the array unroll under its own power to give the advanced solar cells sunlight in space for the first time. Check out this timelapse. pic.twitter.com/LJK6Mww2S3
— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) June 20, 2021
Over the past couple of years, I worked TV gigs at Delfino Studios...which is literally across the street from Boeing Spectrolab in Sylmar, California. I know that this subsidiary of Boeing constructs solar panels for spacecraft; I just didn't know which spacecraft they were placed on. The fact that the ISS is one of those satellites (the largest man-made satellite soaring in Earth orbit, that is) that Spectrolab built components for is very exciting. And considering that NASA's Lunar Gateway will also be powered by ROSA panels makes me stoked as well! It's amazing that a company based in the San Fernando Valley (about an hour's drive, without traffic, from my house) will soon build solar arrays for a space station destined to orbit the Moon...
The next iROSA deployment at the ISS is scheduled for Friday, June 25. Happy Father's Day and First Day of Summer (if you live in the Northern Hemisphere), everyone!
Delfino Studios
Delfino Studios
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