Washington, Astronauts Anil Menon and Sophie Adenot ran out of time to replace the space-to-ground antenna of the International Space Station during a spacewalk, with the task now set for a future date.
Adenot, an astronaut with the European Space Agency, became the first French woman to undertake a spacewalk. The antenna is a critical link NASA uses to transmit data, enabling high-speed communications between the Mission Control Centre in Houston and the space station. The space station continues to operate with a fully functional Space-to-Ground antenna, which provides high-data rate communications with NASA’s Tracking Data and Relay Satellites and control centres across the world, including the agency’s Mission Control Center in Houston. This spacewalk was the 282nd in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
The two astronauts managed to remove the failed antenna and stow it away in their six-hour-23-minute space walk that began at 8.29 am EDT.
“The installation work is expected to be completed during a future spacewalk,” NASA said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Menon and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir spent six hours and 27 minutes outside the station, preparing part of its power system for the future installation of another roll-out solar array.
