What was the purpose of the spacewalk completed by the cosmonauts?
Dragon Crew Ship Changing Ports
The Dragon Crew Ship, which is owned by SpaceX, has been busy lately. In mid-April 2021, it delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for a six-month stay. Now, it’s moving to a different port on the station. The move is scheduled for April 28, 2021, and it will be the first time a Dragon Crew Ship changes ports while docked to the ISS.
The move is part of NASA’s plan to free up docking ports for other spacecraft. Currently, there are two docking ports on the ISS that are capable of receiving crewed spacecraft. One is occupied by the Dragon Crew Ship, and the other is used by Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. By moving the Dragon to a different port, NASA will be able to accommodate upcoming Crew-2 and Crew-3 missions, as well as a future Boeing Starliner mission.
Despite being a routine operation, the port switch requires coordination between mission controllers on the ground and the ISS crew. The astronauts on board the ISS will monitor the port change from the station’s cupola, using cameras and communication with the ground team.
Cosmonauts Cleanup After Spacewalk
Meanwhile, outside the ISS, two Russian cosmonauts conducted a spacewalk on April 19, 2021. Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov spent nearly seven hours outside the ISS to perform various maintenance tasks.
During the spacewalk, the cosmonauts installed handrails on the Russian segment of the ISS, replaced an antenna, and prepared a docking port for the arrival of a new Russian module later this year. They also retrieved an experiment package and installed another one.
After returning to the station, the cosmonauts spent some time cleaning up their spacesuits and the airlock used to exit and re-enter the ISS. Spacewalks can be messy affairs, with tools, gloves, and other debris floating around in microgravity. The cleanup process is therefore an important part of spacewalk operations.
Conclusion
Space exploration is an ongoing endeavor, and operations like the Dragon Crew Ship port switch and the Russian spacewalk demonstrate the complexity involved in carrying out such missions. While it may seem routine to those of us on the ground, there are many moving parts and variables involved in space exploration. But with careful planning and coordination, we can continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in space.