Spacewalk and Japanese cargo craft departure preps kick off week

The Expedition 74 crew started the week by readying spacesuits and reviewing procedures for a spacewalk later this month. Flight engineers Chris Williams and Jack Hathaway unstowed suit components and staged them inside the Quest airlock before lunchtime. Jessica Meir installed leg and arm parts on a single suit and swapped components between suits, and Hathaway later joined ESA Flight Engineer Sophie Adenot to rehearse suiting up, guiding a spacewalker in and out of the airlock, and spacewalk communications.

The spacewalk, postponed in January, will install a modification kit and route cables for a future roll-out solar array on the station’s port side. Williams also trained for the departure of JAXA’s HTV-X1, reviewing procedures for when the Canadarm2 releases the cargo craft and for monitoring its departure.

Meir continued packing HTV-X1 with trash and discarded gear. HTV-X1 is scheduled to be robotically detached from Harmony’s space-facing port on Thursday and parked overnight for a sensor demonstration test.

expedition 74, spacewalk, spacesuit, quest airlock, htv-x1, canadarm2, jessica meir, chris williams, jack hathaway, solar array