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4d ago

Meir and Adenot Begin Sixth All‑Female Spacewalk to Service ISS External Systems

The outing replaces a Harmony retroreflector and readies the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer radiator to keep station navigation, communications and science operations on track.

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From left to right, astronauts Sophie Adenot of ESA and Jessica Meir of NASA pose for their official crew portraits at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
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Overview

  • NASA scheduled the spacewalk for Tuesday, Sept. 1, with the crew exiting the Quest airlock at about 8:30 a.m. EDT for an outing expected to last roughly 6.5 hours.
  • During the EVA the astronauts will replace a navigational retroreflector on the Harmony module, install jumper cables to boost external data‑relay links, prepare the AMS radiator for future maintenance, and swap an HD camera on the station truss.
  • Sophie Adenot will serve as Extravehicular Crew Member 1 in a suit with red stripes and Jessica Meir will be EV2 in an unmarked suit; this will be Adenot’s third spacewalk and Meir’s seventh.
  • The sortie follows two August EVAs that removed and then replaced a failed Ku‑band antenna to restore redundant high‑data‑rate links, highlighting how connector issues and suit consumables shape current ISS maintenance plans.
  • NASA and ESA are streaming live coverage beginning at 7:00 a.m. EDT and the work matters because the retroreflector aids spacecraft rendezvous while AMS radiator prep supports future repairs to a multi‑billion‑dollar science experiment.