Female astronauts have opened a new page in the history of the ISS by going into open space!

American astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers performed another important event in the history of the International Space Station (ISS) on May 1. They stepped out into outer space from the station and successfully completed a number of important installation tasks.

According to reports, the two female astronauts left the ISS's Quest airlock and worked in the vacuum of space for nearly six and a half hours. As part of these tasks, the International Space Station crews have walked into outer space for a total of 275 times since 1998.

The main task this time was to move the ISS's external communications antenna to a new location and install special mounting brackets for the new IROSA solar arrays, which will be delivered to the station by SpaceX's Cargo Dragon cargo ship later this year.

The first pair of IROSA solar arrays was installed by astronauts in June 2021. Later, the installation of the second and third pairs was carried out in 2022-2023.

These modern solar arrays, which will be eight in total, will serve to strengthen the ISS's energy system and increase the station's electricity generation capacity by almost 30 percent. There are new panels, and relatively old panels will be installed side by side. This will increase the station's total power supply from 160 kilowatts to 215 kilowatts.

NASA experts say that the original eight solar panels on the ISS are still performing well. However, these panels were originally designed for a 15-year service life. The first batch of these panels was delivered to the station more than 20 years ago, and the process of installing new panels in their place is being carried out in stages.

Thus, now the new solar panels installed by astronauts will provide the International Space Station with the energy it needs to operate more efficiently and sustainably. Such complex work in open space will serve as an important step in ensuring the reliable operation of the ISS for many more years. Read 'Zamin' on Telegram!