Astronauts Nick Hague and Suni Williams recently completed a six-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) to repair the NICER observatory and inspect the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). The spacewalk, which took place on January 16th, marked the second successful American EVA in over a year.
The astronauts’ primary task was to replace a faulty rate gyro assembly that helps maintain the station’s orientation. They also made quick work of repairing issues with the NICER observatory, patching up areas where optical light was seeping into one or more of its instrument’s filters.
NICER is an X-ray observatory used to study neutron stars, and its repair was crucial for resuming data collection on deep space phenomena. Hague and Williams then inspected access areas and connector tools for future maintenance work on the AMS, a particle physics experiment designed to measure antimatter in cosmic rays.
Their inspections may pave the way for further upgrades, including installing a new radiator. The astronauts completed all their planned tasks within the scheduled timeframe of 6 hours and returned to the airlock at 2:01 p.m. EST.
Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/astronauts-repair-black-hole-observatory-inspect-cosmic-ray-detector-on-iss-spacewalk