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- The Russians are conducting a spacewalk today to prepare for the addition of a new science module to the ISS.
- The module will replace an old one and will be released in early 2021.
- This will be the first of several spacewalks to prepare the space station for the arrival of the new module.
The International Space Station is the only place outside of Earth where humans have maintained their presence for a long and constant period of time. Much has changed since astronauts started calling it temporary home, too. New modules have been added over time, allowing more space for science, and sometimes creature comforts.
Today, a couple of Russian cosmonauts will be working outside the ISS to prepare it for the addition of an entirely new module. The Russian multipurpose laboratory module nicknamed Nauka (“science” in Russian) will be placed in the large orbiting laboratory and will serve as a new location for researchers to carry out their work.
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Preparations for the soon-to-be-installed module include inspections of the airlock that will be used to secure the module to the space station as a whole and generally ensure that everything looks good on the exterior of the spacecraft. Air leaks on the Russian side of the spacecraft have caused concern in recent months, but now that they appear to have been fixed, Russia is excited to install its new module sooner rather than later.
The Nauka module will be a replacement for the Russian Pirs module, but that older module will not be retired for some time. The Nauka module is expected to launch to the ISS in April next year, but before that happens, cosmonauts will have to undertake multiple spacewalks to “relocate assets” for the expected arrival of the new module, according to CNN.
The International Space Station has been orbiting Earth for more than two decades, and humans have occupied it for the vast majority of that time. There have been questions about how viable the space station will remain in the future and how long NASA, the European Space Agency, Japan’s JAXA, and the Russian group Roscosmos will continue to view the spacecraft as a useful tool for various investigations.
However, in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that the space station will receive new life. The ISS is expected to continue operating until at least the end of the decade, but the space station is likely to live beyond even that date. Missions to the Moon and perhaps even Mars may be a high priority for various space agencies at the time, but the ability to conduct research in the ISS’s microgravity environment appears to be too valuable to give up without having a replacement available.
Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering the latest news and trends in virtual reality, wearable devices, smartphones, and future technology. Most recently, Mike served as a technology editor at The Daily Dot and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com, and many other print and web media. His love of reporting is second only to his addiction to games.
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