Two NASA astronauts conducted a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, Dec. 22, to install a fourth new iROSA (ISS Roll-Out Solar Array). The Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) follows a previous one on Dec. 2 that installed the third iROSA.
The second EVA of the pair was scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 21, but was postponed at the last minute when controllers determined that a piece of Russian rocket debris would pass dangerously close to the ISS, necessitating a Predetermined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) to move the station safely out of the way and delaying the spacewalk by 24 hours. The PDAM occurred at 13:42 UTC, Dec. 21, using the Progress MS-20 spacecraft’s engines.