Indian-American among two astronauts who carried out spacewalk

Two astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday exited the space station for a six and a half hour spacewalk or an Extravehicular Activity (EVA). This is the second spacewalk being undertaken to upgrade the orbiting laboratory. The first one was carried out on March 15 and lasted for the same duration.

According to a statement by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Tuesday, flight engineers Raja Chari of NASA and Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency (ESA) were given the go-ahead to exit the ISS.

On Tuesday, both astronauts underwent a standard medical checkup. “The duo had an ear exam and measured heart and breathing rate, blood pressure, and temperature. Afterwards, Chari and Maurer staged their US spacesuits and readied their spacewalking tools inside the US Quest airlock,” the NASA statement added.

Earlier this month, NASA had said that Chari and Maurer would install hoes on a Radiator Beam Valve Module that routes ammonia through the station’s heat-rejecting radiators to keep systems at the proper temperature.

“The crew members will also install a power and data cable on the Columbus module’s Bartolomeo science platform, replace an external camera on the station’s truss, and conduct other upgrades to station hardware,” NASA added.

This is the first spacewalk for Indian-American Raja Chari, a colonel in the United States Air Force with over 2,000 flying hours. The 44-year-old astronaut is also part of the Artemis program- to help pave the way for the next lunar missions including sending the first woman and next man to walk on the lunar surface in 2024.