NASA conducts another all-female spacewalk for battery work

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two NASA astronauts ventured out Wednesday on a second all-female spacewalk to finish upgrades to the International Space Station's power grid.

It was the second pairing of Jessica Meir and Christina Koch outside the orbiting lab. Last October, they teamed up for the world's first spacewalk by two women.

"Beautiful view out here," Meir said as their latest spacewalk got under way.

NASA is in the midst of replacing decades-old nickel-hydrogen batteries outside the sprawling space station with more powerful, longer-lasting lithium-ion batteries. The batteries are part of the station's solar power network, keeping everything running when the outpost is on the night side of Earth.

JAPANESE BILLIONAIRE SEEKS GIRLFRIEND FOR SPACEX VOYAGE

Koch also went out with a male colleague twice last October to install three new batteries. But a charging unit then failed, prompting the need for unexpected repairs by Koch and Meir. Meanwhile, the rest of the critical battery installations were put on hold while engineers figured out why the charger failed so soon after new batteries went in.

Engineers now believe the charger got too cold in the extreme temperatures of space. The solution: exposing the chargers to the sun as much as possible during the battery work.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Mission Control expects Meir and Koch to replace three more of the old batteries, with the operation wrapping up during a third all-female spacewalk on Monday. That would make a total of five spacewalks for this latest series of battery work.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Koch is just three weeks away from ending an 11-month space mission, the longest ever by a woman. She's been living 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth since last March. Meir arrived at the space station in September.