May 23, 2017, NASA astronauts, “Peggy Whitson” And “Jack Fisher“, went on an impromptu and unplanned spacewalk. This walk-in is for replacing a broken information relay box out of International Space Station Done.
This troublesome device, known as a multiplexer/demultiplexer, was discovered less than two months earlier during another spacewalk by Peggy Whitson and Shane Kimbrough It was installed.
Two multiplexers/demultiplexers are fixed on the outer part of the space station’s truss section, and they are responsible for controlling critical systems such as solar arrays, radiators, cooling loops, and other robotic equipment. When the newer unit failed, that second unit came in as a backup, so the station itself was not affected. However, NASA had to try to install another spare to make sure the space station was ready in case the second computer failed.
This was Peggy Whitson’s 10th walk. She holds the record for the longest spacewalk by a female astronaut.
NASA announced after the end of this mission that the installed communication system is working well. This spacewalk lasted two hours and 46 minutes.
