NASA astronauts successfully complete 6-hour spacewalk

Team Udayavani, May 17, 2018, 1:07 PM IST

Washington: Two NASA astronauts have successfully completed the fifth spacewalk of this year aboard the International Space Station, spending 6 hours, 31 minutes to undertake maintenance operations on the orbital outpost.

Expedition 55 Flight Engineers Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold of NASA moved the Pump Flow Control Subassembly (PFCS) from a spare parts platform on the stations truss to the Dextre robotic arm. The PFCS drives and controls the flow of ammonia through the exterior portions of the stations cooling system.

The team then removed and replaced a camera group and a degraded Space to Ground Transmitter Receiver Controller, and was also able to complete several get-ahead tasks. Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 54 days, 16 hours and 40 minutes working outside the station in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory.