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NASA has shared several clips on Twitter from Sunday's spacewalk at the International Space Station (ISS), which show astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover venturing outside to upgrade the station's solar arrays.
The entire spacewalk, referred to as an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA), is available to watch online, but NASA also split the walk into various key moments, such as the astronauts' trip from the airlock to the worksite, and when they secured frames and struts to the outside of the station using power tools.
The EVA lasted seven hours and four minutes in total, concluding at 1:16pm ET. It started at 6:12am ET, when the two astronauts switched their spacesuits to battery power.
Astronauts conduct EVAs when they have to carry out certain science experiments or repairs and upgrades to the outside of their spacecraft. They typically last between five and eight hours.
In the video below, Rubins works to place a bolt on the solar array's support structures while the Earth spins slowly 261 miles beneath her.
As astronaut Kate Rubins continues work to secure a bolt on the bracket support structures at the base of the solar arrays, the @Space_Station is flying 261 miles over Venezuela and is about to pass over Brazil. pic.twitter.com/zTcPxaplEX
— NASA (@NASA) February 28, 2021
The purpose of installing the bracket support structures on the EVA is to enable astronauts to further upgrade the solar arrays in future, NASA said.
Another clip shows Rubins traveling to the solar panel worksite. In it, she can be seen handling the safety tether attaching her to the space station, which is one of the safety measures the astronauts take to prevent them from drifting into space.
? High-definition views are coming in from astronaut Kate Rubins' helmet camera as she makes her way to the worksite for today's spacewalk. She & @AstroVicGlover will work together to assemble and install modification kits for upcoming @Space_Station solar array upgrades. pic.twitter.com/GAtAeeKNVO
— NASA (@NASA) February 28, 2021
The last video clip uploaded shows Rubins re-entering the airlock after Glover, before the EVA comes to an end.
As the sun sets on station, Astronaut Kate Rubins enters the Quest airlock getting ready to conclude today's spacewalk. https://t.co/cBNqC5JGaz pic.twitter.com/VwdPSByeYs
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) February 28, 2021
The entire EVA was also uploaded as a single video lasting just under nine-and-a-half hours, using footage from helmet cams and video feeds from cameras mounted on the outside of the ISS.
In addition, an animated clip shows the entire process the two astronauts carried out condensed into around six minutes.
This animation gives an overview of the process for the two @NASA_Astronauts on today's spacewalk. Kate Rubins is extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1) in the spacesuit with red stripes, and @AstroVicGlover is EV 2, in the spacesuit with no stripes. pic.twitter.com/k97e1mWqk3
— NASA (@NASA) February 28, 2021
The EVA was Glover's third spacewalk. Last year, he became the first African American to start a six-month-long stint on the ISS. In an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris that was filmed on Wednesday and aired on Saturday, Glover explained what it felt like to work in the vacuum of space, and how he was able to stay focused.
"One of my colleagues said to me to 'keep your world small—to focus on the thing right in front of you—and then slowly widen out that world-view.'"
"And that really helped, because the first time that I did just sit back and look down at the Earth, I just wanted to do that for the rest of the seven hours that I was outside.
"It was pretty amazing, but we had a lot of work to do, so it was also very busy. Busy and beautiful."
