By David S Lewis
An astronaut each from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) began the second and final phase of extra-vehicular upgrades to the power system on the International Space Station (ISS)early this morning.
Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the ESA are performing the extravehicular repairs, while Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson provides support from inside the space station. Whitson’s own spacewalk to perform the first phase of the upgrades on Jan. 6 tied her with Suni Williams for most spacewalks by a woman.
The upgrades allowed the team to replace 12 older nickel hydrogen batteries with six more modern lithium ion batteries.
