Norishige Kanai (Japan) for the first time performs a space walk with the ISS
On February 16, Japanese and American astronauts went beyond the limits of the ISS to restore the robotic arm and pick up certain equipment for storage.
Norishige Kanai (Japan) performed the spacewalk for the first time, and for Mark Wande Hay (NASA) this is the fourth walk. The work began with the fact that the crew members switched their spacesuits to a battery charge that lasts for 6.5 hours.
41-year-old Kanai is a doctor and a diver, for which among his colleagues he got the nickname Nemo. He became an astronaut in 2009. Previously spent 13 days in the underwater laboratory off the coast of Florida (2015). He became the fourth Japanese astronaut who went into space. The purpose of the space walk is to change the location of some components of the Canadian robotic arm Canadarm2. It is used to move crew members and heavy loads around a research lab.
The astronauts must move the spare tip (“Snap-on end effect”) from the storage location outside the station in order to return it to Earth for a possible restart. It was canceled in October 2017.
They will also change the location of an aging, but functional tip, disconnected on January 23. It will be sent to the long-term storage. Exit February 16 will be the 208th walk on the support and maintenance of the station, as well as the third in 2018.
