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NASA Indian American astronaut during his spacewalk at the Internationa Space Station. |
Chari performed his first spacewalk at the International Space Station Tuesday (March14).
The 44-year old Indian American and fellow astronaut Kayla Barron secured brackets and erected struts at the base of one of the space station’s eight original power-providing arrays, preparing the area for the future installation of an ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA).
Their work on the S4 channel of the 3A solar wing deployed the support structure for the third of six new arrays and the first to be added to the starboard side of the space station’s backbone truss. When completed the arrays will increase the space station's total available power.
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NASA Astronaut Raja Chari awaited for the airlock to open so he could begin his first spacewalk. |
The solar arrays soak up the sun’s energy to provide electrical power for the numerous research and science investigations conducted every day, as well as the continued operations of the orbiting platform.
The astronaut duo began the spacewalk at 8:12 a.m. EDT (1212 GMT) as they switched their spacesuits to internal battery power. They completed their portion of the task in almost seven hours.
Chari was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. He reported for duty in August 2017.
The Iowa native graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1999 with a bachelor’s degrees in Astronautical Engineering and Engineering Science. He continued on to earn a master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.
He is currently serving as commander of the NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the ISS, which launched on November 10, 2021.
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