NASA Astronauts Replace Faulty Wrist Joint on ISS Canadarm2 During Spacewalk

NASA astronauts Chris Williams and Jessica Meir successfully completed a more than 7-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) to repair the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, restoring an important piece of equipment used for maintenance and astronaut support.

The spacewalk took place after Canadarm2 which is nearly as old as the ISS, malfunctioned during normal operations on May 27. The issue affected one of the arm's wrist joints prompting NASA to schedule a repair mission.

Astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams exited the ISS space station to replace the faulty wrist joint of Canadarm2. The robotic arm plays a very crucial role in station operations aiding equipment handling and station upkeep and transport astronauts around the exterior of the space station during spacewalks.

The repair operation lasted for more than seven hours. During the 7-hour, 20-minute spacewalk, Williams and Meir completed their primary objective to remove and replace a wrist joint on the Canadarm2 robotic arm.During a brief pause in the work, Williams took photographs from outside the station, capturing stunning views of the Moon while floating hundreds of kilometres above Earth.

Following the successful replacement of the wrist joint, Canadarm2 is expected to resume its critical role in supporting ongoing operations aboard the ISS. The faulty wrist joint will be returned to Earth to be inspected and refurbished for future use on the robotic arm, if needed.

For the unversed, the 56-foot-long (17-meter-long), 3,300-pound (1,500-kg) robot at the orbiting laboratory aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in April 2001.

Astronauts have so far performed a total of 279 spacewalks outside the ISS. However, this mission was the 288th spacewalk in ISS history, marking the second for Chris Williams and the fifth for Jessica Meir.