10 amazing facts about Spacewalks.
Astronomy

10 amazing facts about Spacewalks.


While anchored to a foot restraint, astronaut Scott Parazynski doing his repair work at the solar array of International Space Station. During the 7 hour, 19 minute spacewalk, Parazynski cut a snagged wire and installed stabilizers designed to strengthen the damaged solar panel's structure and stability.
Spacewalks, which technically known as extra-vehicular activity [EVA] are the finest examples of human innovation and courage. Spacewalks are mainly performed to carry out spacecraft maintenance and science experiments in space. Here are 10 amazing facts about spacewalks:-

1. During Spacewalks astronauts face a wide variety of temperatures. In Earth orbit, conditions can be as cold as minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit and in sunlight, it can be as hot as 250 degrees.

2. The first person to go on a EVA was cosmonaut Alexei Leonov from Russia. It took place on March 18, 1965, and was 10-12 minutes long.

3. NASA's first spacewalks took place during the Gemini program. Edward H. White became the first American to go on a spacewalk on June 3, 1965, during the Gemini 4 mission, which lasted for 21 minutes.

4. The longest EVA was 8 hours and 56 minutes, performed by Susan J. Helms and James S. Voss during STS-102 on March 11, 2001.

5. The world record for the most spacewalks is held by Russian astronaut Anatoly Solovyev. He has been on 16 spacewalks and spent more than 82 hours outside in space.

6. Astronauts usually use tethers to keep them attached to the spacecraft while on a spacewalk. The first untethered spacewalk was by American astronaut Bruce McCandless II on Feb. 7, 1984, during Challenger mission STS-41-B.

7. The first EVA where an astronaut performed an in-flight repair of a space shuttle was by American astronaut Steve Robinson on Aug. 3, 2005, during STS-114. Robinson removed two protruding gap fillers from space shuttle Discovery's heat-shield while the shuttle was docked to the International Space Station.

8. The first woman to perform an EVA was cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya during Soyuz T-12 on July 25, 1984.

9. During spacewalks, a spacesuit weighs nothing but on the ground it weighs approximately 280 pounds, without the astronaut in it.

10. Astronauts prepare for spacewalks by practicing their tasks underwater in a large swimming pool because floating in space is a lot like floating in water. Another way astronauts practice for a spacewalk is by using virtual reality. 

article reference:- nasa.gov





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