[ad_1]
The International Space Station or ISS is the only place outside the Earth where humans have maintained a presence for a long time now.
It has also changed a lot since astronauts started calling it a temporary home. Over time, new modules have been added, giving more space to science and, at times, to the comforts of creatures.
Today, two Russian cosmonauts, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, will work outside the ISS to prepare it for the addition of a new module.
Reports on this new development in space say that the Russian module of the multipurpose laboratory called “Nauka”, or science in the Russian language, will be connected to a huge orbiting laboratory and will serve as a new home for scientists to do their work.
The aforementioned spacewalk officially began at 10:12 am ET and ended in the afternoon at 5:00 pm ET. It lasted exactly six hours and 48 minutes.
This is reportedly the 47th Russian spacewalk that contributes to the formation and maintenance of the station. Overall, it’s the 232nd and eighth spacewalk this year.
Such preparations for the soon-to-be-assembled module include checking the airlock to be used for the safety of the module for the space station in general and, generally only, ensuring that all things appear exactly on the outside of the spacecraft.
(Photo: Paolo Nespoli – ESA / NASA via Getty Images)
The International Space Station and the space shuttle Endeavor orbit the Earth during Endeavor’s latest sortie into space
The “Nauka” module
Air leaks in the Russian side of the spacecraft have raised concerns in recent months, although now that those leaks appear to have resolved, Russia would be thrilled to receive the new “Nauka” module soon.
This new laboratory module will replace Russia’s Pirs module, although this old module, according to reports, will not be retired for some time.
Additionally, this new module is expected to be launched on the ISS in April 2021. However, according to CNN, before it takes place, cosmonauts will have to perform numerous spacewalks to “transfer resources” for the early entry of the “Nauka” .
The ISS has been orbiting the Earth for more than 20 years now and humans have inhabited it for some time.
What’s in front of the ISS
Questions have arisen about how feasible the space station will continue to operate in the future, not to mention how long NASA, the European Space Agency or ESA, Japan’s JAXA and Russian Roscosmos group will continue to see the spacecraft. as a useful tool for many different studies.
However, reports also say, in recent years it has become increasingly evident that the space station “will have a new lease on life.”
The ISS is expected to continue functioning until at least the latter part of the decade. However, it is likely that the space station will continue beyond its scheduled end date.
Missions to the moon and possibly Mars as well could be of great importance to several space agencies at that point. However, the particular ability to conduct a study in the microgravity atmosphere of the ISS appears to be so valuable that one gives up less than having a readily available replacement.
READ ALSO: The Kepler Space Telescope Reveals About 300 Million Habitable Planets Could Exist in the Milky Way
Find out more news and information about Space in Science Times.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
