They announced on Twitter that a French and an American astronaut completed a spacewalk on Sunday to complete the installation of additional solar panels to increase power supply to the International Space Station (ISS).
“Every time, it takes a great team effort, and I couldn’t be happier to return with @astro kimbrough,” he said, referring to his American colleague and Nasa astronaut Shane Kimbrough.
At 11:42 GMT, the two astronauts turned on the internal batteries in their space suits and then opened the hatch to the ISS airlock.
Their mission include the installation of six iROSA solar panels, which are the latest generation of solar panels.
The new panels, which will power both daily operations on the ISS as well as research and science initiatives, are intended to last 15 years.
A initial attempt on Wednesday hit a few snags, including issues with Kimbrough’s spacesuit. He experienced a temporary loss of data on his spacesuit display unit, followed by a brief increase in the suit’s pressure readout.
The two astronauts had gone into space together for the fourth time on Sunday.
They did it twice on a 2017 mission, attached by tethers to the space station while it orbits the Earth at a height of about 250 miles, in addition to Wednesday’s spacewalk (400 kilometres).
