(Image source from: Parking Spots in Space})

NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts completed the first stage of preparations outside the ISS to install new docking ports for future US-made crew capsules. NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) successfully finished first of the three scheduled spacewalks to perform the necessary maintenance tasks. The spacewalk series is being conducted primarily to route cables to accommodate the delivery of new docking adapters that commercial crew vehicles will use in the future to bring astronauts to the ISS. The space agency has awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to develop, test and fly capsules that can taxi astronauts to and from the station. Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts have already routed over 100 meters of cables. The new parking spots in the space station will boost the space tourism in the coming days.

The astronauts have also rigged a series of power and data cables at the forward end of the Harmony module and Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 and routed 340 of 360 feet of cable. NASA spokesperson said, “The cable routing work is part of a reconfiguration of station systems and modules to accommodate the delivery of new docking adapters that commercial crew vehicles will use later this decade to deliver astronauts to the orbital laboratory.” Wilmore and Virts will again venture outside the space station on February 25 to deploy two more cables and lubricate the end of the space station’s robotic arm. The world is eagerly waiting to witness the space station to become a much sought destination of space tourism.

By Premji