Two female U.S. astronauts complete spacewalk, replacing batteries
Two female U.S. astronauts, Christina Koch (left) and Jessica Meir, complete a spacewalk out of the International Space Station on Jan. 15, 2020. (Photo credit: NASA)
Two female U.S. astronauts wrapped up a spacewalk out of the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, replacing batteries on the station's port truss.
Astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir finished their spacewalk at 2:04 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time, which lasted about seven hours and 29 minutes, according to the U.S. space agency NASA.
This is the second all-female spacewalk. Koch and Meir completed the first one in October last year.
They replaced nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute power generated by the station's solar arrays on the station's port truss.
The lithium-ion batteries provide an improved power capacity for operations with a lighter mass and a smaller volume than the nickel-hydrogen batteries, according to NASA.
Also, the duo astronauts accomplished a get-ahead task of relocating an additional nickel-hydrogen battery to the external pallet in preparation for next week's spacewalk.
Meir and Koch are scheduled to venture outside the station again on Jan. 20 for a second battery replacement spacewalk.
Spacewalkers in the space lab have till now spent a total of 58 days, 23 hours, and 12 minutes working outside the station.