FIRST ALL-WOMAN SPACEWALK REPLACES FAULTY ELECTRICAL BOX ON SPACE STATION

Outside the International Space Station, Expedition 61 Flight Engineers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir of NASA replaced a faulty electrical component on the far port truss of the complex Oct. 18 during a spacewalk – the first ever conducted by two women. One of three battery charge/discharge units (BCDUs) on the P6 truss failed to activate late last week following the second in a series of spacewalks to replace older nickel-hydrogen batteries in the station’s electrical system with new lithium-ion batteries. Koch and Meir changed out the faulty unit that regulates the amount of charge put into the batteries that collect energy from the station’s solar arrays to power station systems during periods when the complex orbits during nighttime passes around the Earth. The spacewalk was the 221st in support of space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades, the fourth for Koch and the first for Meir, who became the 15th female to walk in space.