Two astronauts japanese and american began to exit orbit

NASA Photo

AFP

Friday, 16 February 2018 08:23

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Friday, 16 February 2018 08:26

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Washington | Two astronauts, japanese and american, began Friday, a departure from the international space Station (ISS) to repair the robotic arm of the orbital outpost and to keep certain parts.

The output started vendred, when the astronauts were connected to their spacesuits in standalone mode before venturing into the vacuum of space. It is expected to last six and a half hours.

The images published on the Nasa website showed the two astronauts, turning around the arm shortly after the start of their output, and the scientists concentrated on their screens in the control room.

This is the first output of Norishige Kanai astronaut of the japanese space Agency (JAXA), and the fourth of his american colleague Mark Vande Hei.

Doctor and lieutenant of the japanese navy, an astronaut since 2009, Norishige Kanai, aged 41 years, is the fourth Japanese to float in space. He had spent 13 days on the water aboard the Aquarius laboratory, in 2015, within the framework of the special missions of the Nasa NEEMO, conducted in an extreme environment.

The purpose of this output is to move some components related to arm aging, but crucial to the ISS, 17 meters long, made by Canada and named Canadarm2. Used to work on the space Station, but also serves to “capture” the vessels cargo who regularly come to resupply the ISS in order to dock.

This is the 208e output orbital performed in the history of the Station for assembly and maintenance, and the third this year.

The astronauts are this time tasked to place one of the ” hands “, or “effector lock” – “latching end effectors (LEE)” in technical jargon – in the sas of the isolation Quest so that it can be brought back on earth during a future mission for reclamation.

“LEE has been replaced during the expedition 53 output orbital in October 2017,” says Nasa in a press release.

“They will also be moved to a LEE older, but operational, which has been detached from the arms when the output orbital of January 23 in order to transport it from its place of temporary storage outside the airlock, into a place of long-term storage “. This hand will be kept at the Station as a spare.

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Washington, 16 feb 2018 (AFP) – 02/16/18 08:12