Astronauts begin spacewalk to upgrade ISS communications antenna

Two astronauts stepped outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday to finish installing a high-speed communications antenna, a critical link for data transmission between the orbital laboratory and mission control in Houston. French astronaut Sophie Adenot and NASA's Anil Menon exited the station at about 8:35 a.m. EDT (12:35 GMT), with the work expected to take roughly six and a half hours, according to NASA Source: infobae.

The spacewalk

This is Adenot's second spacewalk; last week she became the first French woman to perform one, also alongside Menon Source: diariolibree. During that outing, the pair removed a faulty antenna from the station's Z1 segment but ran out of time to install its replacement. Now they will complete the job, with Menon riding the Canadarm2 robotic arm while Adenot remains tethered to the station's exterior Source: infobae.

Inside, station commander Jessica Meir and flight engineer Jack Hathaway will supervise and operate the arm Source: diariolibree. This is the third and final spacewalk of the month; earlier, on August 6, Menon and Meir prepared for solar panel installation Source: infobae.

Context

The ISS, operational since 1998, is slated for decommissioning in 2030 with SpaceX's assistance. Rising maintenance costs and technological obsolescence have driven plans for its retirement, to be replaced by private orbital stations, allowing NASA to focus on deep-space exploration Source: diariolibree. Both sources report the same facts, with no disagreements noted.