NASA astronaut Steve Bowen was joined by UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi for an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) spacewalk from the International Space Station (ISS). After depressurisation of the Quest airlock, the airlock hatch was opened at 1341 GMT on 28 April 2023 with the astronauts leaving shortly afterwards to being US EVA-86.
Astronaut Steve Bowen egresses Quest Airlock on ISS. Courtesy: NASA TV
The astronauts mainly concentrated on cabling and installation work preparing for the future installation of upgraded ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays (IROSA) on the starboard side of the station’s truss. The astronauts were also to retrieve a failed S-band antenna subassembly (SASA) antenna attached to a storage area, and bring it inside the space station for refurbishment. However, it remained resolutely stuck despite the astronauts best efforts and had to be left behind for a later EVA. Al Neyadi and Bowen re-entered the airlock, closing the hatch at 2006 GMT, and beginning airlock repressurisation. (All times from Jonathan McDowell).
Note that officially NASA times its spacewalks from when the astronauts switch to internal battery power. This happened at 1311 GMT and NASA timed the spacewalk at seven hours one minute (end 2012 GMT)..
