Two Nasa astronauts ventured out on a spacewalk on Thursday to replace a faulty antenna on the International Space Station, facing what Nasa called a minimally heightened risk posed by orbital debris left from a Russian missile test weeks ago.
The start of the “extravehicular activity” followed a 48-hour delay prompted by an orbital debris alert — believed to be the first such postponement in more than two decades of space station history — which Nasa later deemed inconsequential. Their objective is to remove a defective S-band radio communications antenna assembly, now more than 20 years old, and replace it with a spare stowed outside the space station. It is equipped with other antennae that can perform the same functions, but installing a replacement system ensures an ideal level of communications redundancy, Nasa said.
Four days later, an antisatellite missile test conducted without warning by Russia generated a debris field in low-Earth orbit, forcing the seven ISS crew members to take shelter in their docked spaceships to allow for a quick getaway until the immediate danger passed, Nasa said.
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