Source: UPI.com

NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Anne McClain spent Friday morning conducting a spacewalk outside the International Space Station as part of a comprehensive upgrade of space station’s power system.

The spacewalk, the first for Hague and McClain, lasted more than six-and-a-half hours.

During their time outside the space station, Hague and McClain installed adapter plates and hooked up electrical connections for three of six new lithium-ion batteries installed on the station’s starboard truss.

The astronauts also removed debris from outside the station, secured tieback restraints on the Solar Array Blanket Box and took photographs of a bag of tools for contingency repairs and the thermal cover on the airlock used for spacewalks, NASA said Friday afternoon.

Friday’s work is part of an ongoing effort to upgrade the space station’s power system. Astronauts conducted a similar battery swap in 2017. Over the next couple of years, more batteries will be delivered and used to replace older batteries.

The lithium-ion batteries store power produced by the space station’s solar arrays. When ISS is in Earth’s shadow, the station’s power system can draw on the stored energy.

On March 29, McClain will once again don a spacesuit and step outside the space station. She will be joined by flight engineer Christina Koch.

“This would be the first-ever spacewalk with all-female spacewalkers,” according to NASA.