Four Expedition 74 astronauts had a light-duty day on Wednesday, post-spacewalk for external robotics maintenance on Tuesday. The remaining three Roscosmos crew members focused on cardiac research and laboratory maintenance aboard the International Space Station.
NASA flight engineers Chris Williams and Jessica Meir concluded their second spacewalk after successfully replacing a malfunctioning wrist joint on the Canadarm2 robotic arm . The duo spent seven hours and 20 minutes completing Canadarm2’s fourth repair since its installation in April 2001. Initial checkouts by flight controllers indicate the robotic arm is functioning well, with additional testing and verification set to continue over the coming days.
Williams and Meir spent Wednesday recovering from the demanding spacewalk, photographing their spacesuit gloves for inspection and refilling the water tanks that regulate spacesuit temperatures during extravehicular activities. NASA flight engineer Jack Hathaway and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot supported the spacewalk from inside the station on Tuesday, with a lighter schedule before all four astronauts participated in a post-spacewalk conference with mission controllers.
Meanwhile, station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and flight engineer Sergei Mikaev examined how prolonged weightlessness affects mental performance and the circulatory system. The pair completed coordination tests using blood pressure cuffs and light-based sensors to study blood flow through the body’s microcirculatory system, which could improve astronaut healthcare and advance medical technologies on Earth.
Roscosmos flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev spent the day servicing smoke detectors inside the Nauka science module before collecting and downloading radiation data from detectors worn by Williams and Meir during Tuesday’s spacewalk.
