Two astronauts from the International Space Station yesterday performed the first spacewalk of the year, working on the exterior of the station as part of a long-term program to upgrade the ISS power system. The spacewalk took place on Friday, January 20, and lasted over seven hours, though one troublesome strut wasn’t bolted into place as planned.
The ISS solar arrays which provide power to the station are getting old, so in a long-term project astronauts are installing new arrays called iROSAs at an offset on top of the old arrays — allowing both sets of arrays to provide power. The aim of the spacewalk yesterday was to install two mounting platforms, which would be used to install new solar arrays later this year.
One challenge for the spacewalkers came in the form of a tricky foothold, space.com reports. There are restraint points on the outside of the station that spacewalkers use to stay in place while they work, including one type designed to move into different positions called an articulating portable foot restraint or APFR. One such “sticky” APFR caused Mann some trouble as it was hard for her to get into and out of the device, though with Wakata’s help she was able to make it work.