NASA spacewalk partially hooks up new science platform

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Two NASA astronauts were unable to complete work during a spacewalk Wednesday on hooking up Europe's new Bartolomeo science platform outside the International Space Station.

Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover spent 6 hours, 56 minutes on the spacewalk. The assignment was the first spacewalk for Glover, the first Black astronaut to live and work aboard the space station.

Nearly halfway through the chores, however, a space agency commentator noted that "Hopkins and Glover have encountered issues making the cable connections to the Bartolomeo science platform."

A lever that is supposed to help connect power cabling on the platform became stuck in the wrong position, and a heating element needed to beam signals to the ground didn't start as expected, NASA said.

After another hour in space, the astronauts connected two of three power cables and successfully started the heating element, according to the space agency. But a third cable could not be connected and had to be tied down with wire until a solution could be worked out.

Because of the cable problem, Bartolomeo is not yet functional, NASA said, but an antenna on the platform now is sending signals to Earth.

Glover, like all astronauts, trained in NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at Johnson Space Center, where trainees wear suits underwater that simulate weightlessness.

"We also give them videos to walk through, as well as conferences where we get to talk with them, and give them all the experience they need so they feel confident going into the spacewalk," Vincent Lacourt, a NASA flight director, said in a press conference last week.

Hopkins and Glover had attempted to startup the Bartolomeo platform, which is installed outside the European Space Agency's Columbus module.

Bartolomeo is a high-tech balcony about 6.5 feet wide by 8 feet long attached to the space station. Operated by Airbus, it is the first commercial facility of its kind in space. It is designed to house science experiments, such as small 3D printers, to allow work in microgravity.

The platform has direct views of Earth, 12 slots for science experiment chambers and a high-speed communication link to operators in Europe.

The astronauts donned their spacesuits Sunday to ensure they fit properly, said Rick Henfling, also a NASA flight director.

"As you know, when astronauts get into zero gravity their bodies tend to grow and they get a little bit taller," so spacesuits must be tried on in space before going out in the vacuum of space, Henfling said.

Hopkins and Glover are scheduled for another spacewalk Monday, when they will finish a long-term battery upgrade for the space station's power system.

20 years aboard the International Space Station

The International Space Station is photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking on October 4, 2018. NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel and Ricky Arnold and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev executed a fly-around of the orbiting laboratory to take pictures of the space station before returning home after spending 197 days in space. Photo courtesy of NASA/Roscosmos

Guinness World Records announced on October 19, 2020, that NASA astronauts Christina Koch (R) and Jessica Meir, who made history with the first all-female spacewalk on October 18, 2019, are being honored for this achievement with a feature in the Guinness World Records 2021 edition. The historic spacewalk took place at the ISS, where they worked on maintenance and upgrades. While this was Koch's fourth spacewalk, it was Meir's first. Photo by NASA/UPI | License Photo

Expedition 64 NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is seen having her Russian Sokol suit pressure checked as she and fellow crewmates Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos prepare for their Soyuz launch to the ISS on October 14, 2020, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio was launched at 1:45 a.m. EDT to begin a six-month mission aboard the ISS. Photo by Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/NASA | License Photo

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is happy to be aboard the ISS after the hatch opening of the Soyuz spacecraft March 28, 2015. Kelly traveled with Expedition 43 Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka on the Soyuz TMA-16M that was launched the day before from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly and Kornienko each spent a year in space and returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA

Astronaut William Shepherd (C), the Expedition 1 mission commander, looks on while Soyuz commander cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko (L) and the flight engineer, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, apply final touches to his full pressure entry suit as he lies on a couch of a Johnson Space Center trainer on May 12, 2000. Scheduled to come back from his space station stay aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, the three were participating in a rehearsal of their duties during shuttle descent. Photo courtesy of NASA

Kelly cared for two crops in the Veggie Plant Growth Facility during his year in space. Understanding the most effective ways to grow plants in microgravity is a key piece of the future journey to Mars. Growing plants in space provides crew members with fresh foods to supplement their diets, as well as a positive effect on morale and well-being. Photo courtesy of NASA

Tim Kopra photographed his breakfast floating inside of the Unity module aboard the ISS on April 16, 2016. In a tweet, he remarked "#Breakfast taco on #ISS: refried beans, shredded pork, pepper jack cheese, eggs and salsa on a tortilla. Awesome." Photo courtesy of NASA

Flight controllers at the ISS Mission Control at Johnson Space Center monitor systems aboard the orbiting laboratory during a number of dynamic events for Expedition 44 on August 10, 2015. Screens in the front of the room show the camera views from two spacewalking Russian cosmonauts, while NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren is seen harvesting lettuce from the veggie experiment that would become the first food grown in space to be eaten. Photo by Bill Stafford/NASA

Expedition 61 crew members, from left to right, NASA flight engineers Meir, Andrew Morgan and Koch with Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA unpack fresh fruit and other goodies from a stowage bag delivered aboard Japan's HTV-8 cargo craft on the ISS on October 7, 2019. Photo courtesy of NASA

Kelly corrals the supply of fresh fruit that arrived on the Kounotori 5 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-5) on August 25, 2015. Visiting cargo ships often carry a small cache of fresh food for crew members aboard the ISS. Photo courtesy of NASA

NASA astronauts Jeff Williams (shown here) and Rubins successfully installed a new international docking adapter on August 19, 2016, during a 5-hour, 58-minute spacewalk. Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi assisted the duo from inside the space station, while all three then cleaned up the Quest airlock, where they stowed their spacesuits and tools. Photo courtesy of NASA

Koch worked in the vacuum of space 265 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa aboard the ISS on January 15, 2020. She and Meir conducted a spacewalk to install new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute power collected from solar arrays on the station’s Port-6 truss structure. Photo courtesy of NASA

Astronauts aboard the ISS captured these star trail images as they orbited the Earth at 17,500 mph on October 3, 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy embarks on a spacewalk outside the ISS on June 16, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA

Behnken and Cassidy completed the first of two scheduled spacewalks on June 16, 2020, to replace batteries on one of two power channels on the far starboard truss (S6 Truss) of the ISS. Of this image posted by Behnken on Twitter, he said: "Yesterday, @Astro_SEAL snapped this shot from our worksite on @Space_Station – @SpaceX's Crew Dragon and @JAXA_en's HTV in clear view. Not bad for a view while working. …" Photo courtesy of NASA/Twitter | License Photo

Koch (L) and Meir work on their U.S. spacesuits ahead of a spacewalk they conducted to install new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute power collected from solar arrays on the station’s Port-6 truss structure on the ISS on January 15, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA

Commander Peggy Whitson works to change the media in a BioCell for the OsteoOmics experiment inside the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox in the Destiny U.S. Laboratory on the ISS on May 3, 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA

Rubins checks a sample for air bubbles before loading it in the biomolecule sequencer in September 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA

Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 63 Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner transfers biological samples into a science freezer for stowage and later analysis aboard the ISS on October 7, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA

Cassidy (L) and Behnken work on U.S. spacesuits inside the ISS's Quest airlock. The two conduct spacewalks on June 26 and July 1, 2020, to begin the replacement of batteries for one of the power channels on the orbiting laboratory. They replaced aging nickel-hydrogen batteries for one of two power channels on the far starboard truss (S6 Truss) of the station with new lithium-ion batteries that arrived to the station on a Japanese cargo ship. This was the culmination of power upgrade spacewalks that began in January 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo