Four International Space Station residents had a light-duty day Thursday as they enjoyed some time off and worked on close out procedures following the conclusion of yesterday’s spacewalk. The three other Expedition 74 crew members spent the day inspecting various modules of the orbital complex, cleaning, and stowing cargo.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams concluded a seven-hour, two-minute spacewalk yesterday at 3:54 p.m. EDT, completing their primary objectives which included preparing the 2A power channel for the future installation of roll-out solar arrays. It was Meir’s fourth spacewalk and Williams’ first.
The spacewalkers, along with NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot, enjoyed the morning off. Hathaway and Adenot, who monitored yesterday’s spacewalk and assisted Meir and Williams with donning and doffing their suits, joined the duo in the afternoon for a post-spacewalk debrief with ground teams.
Later in the evening, Williams completed some spacesuit work, performed a water recharge and reset a torque wrench. Meir also worked in some time for health research, collecting biological samples for analysis, routine work that helps scientists take a closer look at the effects of spaceflight on the human body.
In the Roscosmos segment, the three cosmonauts spent the day exercising, inspecting modules, cleaning, and stowing cargo. In the morning, flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev exercised on the station’s treadmill before moving throughout the station to collect radiation sensors. Once gathered, he logged radiation measurements for analysis.
In the Zarya module, flight engineer Sergei Mikaev inspected and photographed lighting units for documentation, then vacuumed the spac …