NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers spent five hours and 44 minutes on a spacewalk on Thursday, upgrading the International Space Station’s power systems. The duo was joined by NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim and JAXA station Commander Takuya Onishi for the excursion.
During their spacewalk, McClain and Ayers installed a modification kit on the port side truss structure, relocated a communications antenna, and removed bolts from a micrometeoroid cover. They also collected water samples for chemical analysis and checked their spacesuit water tanks.
Kim conducted experiments on tomato plants growing in space to study space agriculture. Onishi used a 3D microscope to analyze bacteria samples in liquid to learn about monitoring water quality and detecting infectious microorganisms.
The rest of the Expedition 73 crew, including Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky, and Kirill Peskov, continued with their science and upkeep duties on the station. They included photographing the effects of a landslide in Brazil, downloading data on space station vibrations, and checking radiation detectors.
These activities mark an important part of the Expedition 73 mission to upgrade the ISS’s power systems and continue scientific research and maintenance tasks.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/05/02/crew-cleans-up-after-spacewalk-studies-biology-earth-science-and-more