A physically exhausting experience, equivalent to a marathon
Questioned on TF1 after her first spacewalk, carried out on August 18, Sophie Adenot explained the physical effort represented by an extra-vehicular spacewalk:
“The next day, you feel sore all over, and particularly in your upper body, because it’s the upper body that works very hard. Every time you hold something in your hand, even if you don’t squeeze very hard, it’s like squeezing a tennis ball very hard,” confided the French astronaut.
According to Stephen Alamo, a doctor at the European Space Agency, a spacewalk is equivalent to running a marathon.
The 283rd spacewalk in the history of the ISS
Since the start of its assembly in 1998, the ISS has undergone more than 280 sorties extravehicular. The longest spacewalk lasted eight hours and 56 minutes, accomplished by NASA astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms. This second outing by Sophie Adenot should last a little over six hours.
🎥 Relive Sophie Adenot’s second spacewalk
French astronaut Sophie Adenot is carrying out her second spacewalk, just a week after becoming the first French woman to do a spacewalk.
The spare antenna has left the storage platform
Fewer worries than last week for now. The antenna is now detached. Anil Menon grabbed her to take her to the Z1 beam above the Unity module. Sophie Adenot joins him in this area.
A breathtaking view for Sophie Adenot
Here’s what Sophie Adenot sees as she moves to the external storage platform during today’s spacewalk.
A spacewalk scheduled for September 1
NASA is also planning a new spacewalk on Tuesday, September 1 “to connect power cables and data relay systems as part of ongoing maintenance operations.” The agency will decide on the necessity of this new extravehicular exit after the complete installation of the space-ground antenna.
If time permits, the two engineers will also attempt to replace a retroreflector located on the front port of the “Harmony” module, which will improve navigation data for visiting spacecraft.
Last Tuesday, Sophie Adenot and Anil Menon managed to remove the old faulty antenna, but the time available on August 18 did not allow them to complete the installation of the new one.
Today, Anil Menon will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm, more than 17 meters long, to retrieve a spare antenna that Sophie Adenot will have taken from an external storage platform. Together, they will install the antenna on top of the station’s “Unity” module and make all the electrical and data connections to activate it.
Sophie Adenot and Anil Menon are therefore at work outside the ISS to install a replacement communications antenna essential for high-speed data transmissions between the International Space Station and NASA’s control center in Houston.
Sophie Adenot started her second outing
Sophie Adenot left the International Space Station for the second time in a week.
The airlock is open. The first astronaut, the American Anil Menon is out. He is attaching the tools.
The airlock door should open in a few minutes. As Extravehicular Crew Member 1 (EV1), Anil will wear red stripes on his spacesuit, while Sophie (EV2) will wear a suit without stripes.
There are about ten minutes left for the operation. depressurization of the airlock.
“What a day!”
After her first outing last Tuesday, Sophie Adenot let her happiness burst forth.
“Thank you, what a day (…) above all I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who made this possible, to the pioneers who preceded us, but also to the incredible teams who are working in the shadows today,” she said once back inside the ISS.
