Four astronauts from Expedition 69 are gearing up for an important spacewalk today to continue upgrading the power generation system of the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA Flight Engineers Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg will be installing a roll-out solar array on the station's starboard truss structure. They will be joined by Flight Engineers Frank Rubio of NASA and Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who will provide assistance from inside the station. The solar arrays, which arrived via the SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle, were prepared for installation after being attached to a pallet on the starboard truss.

Meanwhile, on the Roscosmos side of the space station, Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin engaged in a long-running study on the effects of weightlessness on the human heart. Prokopyev also worked on disconnecting hardware related to a plasma study that explores electrically-charged micro-particles. Petelin focused on improving communications with international crews and mission controllers, while Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev dedicated his day to computer and power systems maintenance.

These activities highlight the diverse range of scientific research and engineering tasks undertaken by the multinational crew aboard the ISS, further advancing our understanding of space and contributing to the station's operational efficiency.

Source: scitechdaily.com