If you are an enthusiastic fan of NASA and all its mission and ventures, then there are two astronauts that you must know, Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins. The dual has made history in various spaceflight missions. On February 1st, Victor and Mike completed the second of the spacewalks. The mission goal was to install the European Science platform and complete a long series of battery upgrade replacements.
The spacewalk, which is the 234th spacewalk, began at 7:56 a.m. It was among the many extravehicular activities that focus on space station upgrades, maintenance, and assembly. This mission came a few days after the 233rd spacewalk, which took place on January 27th. Battery upgrade spacewalk marks Mike’s and Glover’s fourth and second spacewalk, respectively.
When asked about the Earth’s view, Hopkins stated about how fantastic the scenery and exciting the experience was for the two. Other than the battery tasks, Hopkins and Glover had other things to tackle when they got to space. Their main objective was obviously the installation of the battery upgrades and adapter plate. The two were also able to install cameras and other “get ahead” activities.
For a successful mission, the two were assisted by Kate Rubins, NASA astronaut, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi. NASA astronaut was a reliable guide who gave easy to follow steps for the spacewalking from the ground. Their first step was to install the battery and the adapter plate. The latter completed the circuit for the entire battery system upgrade. This spacewalk was the last of the many battery upgrade mission which has been running for years.
The first battery upgrade mission spacewalk took place in 2017 January. It was the start of the replacement of nickel-hydrogen batteries with Lithium-ion batteries. Victor and Mike worked for hand in hand to ensure the success of the spacewalk. After the successful mission, NASA, via their Twitter account, announced their accomplishment. The battery replacement work was a four-year project to upgrade batteries for the power channels.
NASA went ahead to give an insight into the mission. One hour into the spacewalk, the team on the ground had confirmation that the final lithium-ion battery installation was a success. During the agency’s broadcast, NASA commentator Leah Cheshier explained how the upgrade is flexible and open to betterment in the future. The spacewalk lasted for five hours and twenty minutes. Hopkins later expressed his gratitude to the entire team for making the mission happen and a success. Whether NASA will upgrade later on the battery section is something only time will tell.