Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka holds the record for the most cumulative days ever in space, at 879 days over five career trips.Outfitted in bulky white spacesuits, helmets and gloves, Frances Thomas Pesquet, 39, and American Shane Kimbrough, 49, completed their work right on schedule, after six hours and 34 minutes in the vacuum of space.Pesquet and Kimbrough worked separately on their tasks outside the space station, a symbol of international cooperation which has been continuously inhabited by global astronauts for the past 17 years.Then, he lubricated the space stations robotic arm, Dextre, which is employed to grab approaching cargo ships and move items around outside.
Currently, the only way the worlds astronauts can reach orbit is by buying a ride aboard Russias Soyuz capsules, at $81 million per seat. "Another great example of international collaboration and the work that we can do when we get a great team like this together," said Jessica Meir, a NASA astronaut who coordinated the spacewalk from mission control in Houston.Next month, the 57-year-old Whitson will set a new record for spacewalks by a female astronaut, and will also break the record for most number of days spent in space by an American.The goal for Fridays outing was to prepare for the installation of the second of two parking spots for space taxis, known as the International Docking Adapters.A French and an American astronaut floated outside the International Space Station Friday on a successful spacewalk to upgrade the orbiting outpost for the arrival of future space crews.The current US record of 534 days is held by NASA astronaut Jeff Williams.
The next outing on March 30 will include Kimbrough and American astronaut Peggy Whitson, making the eighth spacewalk of her career.Pesquet spent the first part China 3D signs Suppliers of his spacewalk inspecting a radiator valve suspected of a small ammonia leak, but was unable to find evidence of any problems.In its new location, it will become the home for the second of two International Docking Adapters, to be delivered on a future flight of a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship.Pesquet is the fourth Frenchman to ever walk in space, and the 11th European.New crew spaceships, being designed by SpaceX and Boeing, will use them when they begin flying astronauts to the station in the coming years, as early as 2018.Kimbrough also worked on installing new cameras and computer equipment outside the space station.A third spacewalk on April 6 is to include Pesquet and Whitson.Gee-whiz momentFridays spacewalk was the second of Pesquets career, and the fifth for Kimbroug"Going outside is always a gee-whiz moment for me."
Kimbrough said in an interview on NASA television this week, adding that it was also "really satisfying" to see Pesquet perform so well on his first spacewalk back in January.Meanwhile, Kimbrough disconnected cables and electrical connections on the pressurized mating adapter (PMA-3) to prepare for its move Thursday, March 30, during another spacewalk
