Space

NASA Astronauts Perform The Magnificent 200th ISS Spacewalk

Elaine Hannah
First Posted: May 15, 2017 04:50 AM EDT

NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fisher performed the glorious 200th American spacewalk outside the International Space Station on May 12, 2017. They repaired maintenance on the space lab. They also successfully restored a big avionic box, which supplies electricity and data connections for the science experiments.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson, who holds the American record for most spacewalks performed by a female astronaut, had this as her ninth spacewalk. Meanwhile, this was the first spacewalk of astronaut Jack Fisher, according to Meri News.

Fischer described his first spacewalk as "Ginormous fondue pot, bubbling over with piping hot awesome sauce." He was also astonished and amazed by the view of the Earth in space, in which he had seen the Bahamas, which he exclaimed as his favorite.

The spacewalk was delayed for a few hours. This was due to difficulties with the space suit umbilical cord system that was necessary for electrical power and cooling for the astronauts. It was leaking, so, the astronauts used instead of their suits' internal battery power. Then, the spacewalk began at about 9:08 a.m. EDT and ended after a few hours, according to Labroots.

Their main objective was to replace the avionics box that delivers power to the International Space Station's experiments. They also prepared one of the International Space Station's docking ports for future use involving SpaceX and Boeing spacecraft. They did all these things successfully.

The first spacewalk done outside the International Space Station was performed on Dec. 7, 1998. It was done by astronauts Jerry Ross and Jim Newman, according to Gizmodo.

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