ＩＳＳに新太陽電池アレイ設置、米仏飛行士が船外活動

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】国際宇宙ステーション（ＩＳＳ）で２０日、米国とフランスの宇宙飛行士が、６時間にわたる船外活動を実施し、ＩＳＳの発電能力を増強する新しい太陽電池アレイを設置した。米航空宇宙局（ＮＡＳＡ）が発表した。（写真は国際宇宙ステーション＜ＩＳＳ＞で船外活動を行い、新しい太陽電池アレイを設置する米航空宇宙局＜ＮＡＳＡ＞のシェーン・キンブロー飛行士。キンブロー飛行士と共に船外活動を行った欧州宇宙機関＜ＥＳＡ＞のトマ・ペスケ飛行士のヘルメットカメラで撮影。ＮＡＳＡ　ＴＶの映像より）
　欧州宇宙機関（ＥＳＡ）のトマ・ペスケ飛行士は、「毎回チームとして大きな仕事に取り組んでいるが、＠ａｓｔｒｏ＿ｋｉｍｂｒｏｕｇｈと一緒に帰ってくることができて、こんなにうれしいことはない」とツイッターに投稿した。＠ａｓｔｒｏ＿ｋｉｍｂｒｏｕｇｈは、ＮＡＳＡのシェーン・キンブロー飛行士のこと。
　４月下旬からＩＳＳに滞在している両飛行士は、グリニッジ標準時午前１１時４２分（日本時間同日午後８時４２分）に宇宙服のバッテリーを起動し、ＩＳＳのエアロックに通じるハッチを開けて船外活動を開始。新世代太陽光パネル「ｉＲＯＳＡ」６枚を設置した。
　展開時の長さが１９メートルになるｉＲＯＳＡは今月、米宇宙開発企業スペースＸ（ＳｐａｃｅＸ）の無人宇宙船でＩＳＳに届けられた。
　両宇宙飛行士は２５日に再び船外活動を行い、太陽電池アレイをもう一つ設置する予定。
　新しい太陽電池アレイは、ＩＳＳの運用と科学研究プロジェクトで使う電力を供給するもので、寿命は１５年と見込まれている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/06/22-13:36）

A French and an American astronaut completed a six-hour spacewalk Sunday as they installed new solar panels to boost power supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA said.
It is a huge team effort each time and couldn't be happier to return with @astro_kimbrough, tweeted Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, referring to his American colleague Shane Kimbrough.
Pesquet is with the European Space Agency, Kimbrough with NASA.
The two men, who arrived on the space station in late April, activated the internal batteries in their space suits at 11H42 GMT, then opened the hatch to the ISS airlock.
They then continued the work of positioning, attaching and deploying six new-generation solar panels, referred to as iROSA, for Roll-Out Solar Array.
- Another spacewalk Friday -
The panels, 60 feet (19 meters) long when deployed, were delivered to the station early this month by an uncrewed SpaceX flight.
The astronauts are slated to complete the installation of a second solar panel array on Friday.
The new panels, which will power both daily operations and the research and science projects carried out on the ISS, are expected to have a 15-year lifespan.
A first spacewalk on Wednesday ran into several snags, notably problems with Kimbrough's spacesuit. He temporarily lost data on his spacesuit display unit, and then suffered a brief spike in the suit's pressure reading.
Sunday's outing was the fourth time the two astronauts had ventured into space together.
In addition to Wednesday's spacewalk, they did so twice on a 2017 mission, attached by tethers to the space station as it orbits the Earth at an altitude of some 250 miles (400 kilometers).
In all, there have been 240 ISS spacewalks as astronauts carry out the work of assembling and maintaining, as well as upgrading, the station.