Station Crew Finishes Week With Robotic Arm and Spacewalk Rehearsals

The crew of Expedition 75 spent Friday preparing for a high-priority maintenance job outside the International Space Station. NASA flight engineer Anil Menon and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot are scheduled to step outside on Tuesday, Aug. 18, to remove an old space-to-ground antenna and install a spare on the station’s Z1 truss segment.

The work is expected to last about six and a half hours. Inside the station, flight engineer Jack Hathaway and commander Jessica Meir will help the spacewalkers in and out of their suits and operate Canadarm2, the station’s robotic arm. Menon will be attached to the arm during the operation, so the four astronauts practiced simulated arm movements, operating modes and safety procedures to ensure he can reach the maintenance site safely.

The procedure calls for Menon and Adenot to uninstall the old antenna and temporarily stow it, retrieve a spare from an external platform, and install it on the Z1 truss using a tool designed for microgravity to make sensitive electrical and data connections. The old antenna will then be placed on the same external platform that held the spare.

Science and maintenance continued Friday as well. Menon took exams measuring visual and cognitive responses to weightlessness, Adenot tested the EasyMotion-2 suit, Hathaway inspected hatch seals, and Meir cleaned electronics and configured an ultrasound device. Roscosmos flight engineers Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina released two spheres inside the station to study aerodynamic drag, while Andrey Fedyaev inspected laptops and cameras.

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What the Antenna Swap Involves — and Why the Rehearsal Matters

Why the Z1 truss antenna matters

The antenna being replaced is part of the station’s high-speed data and communications system. NASA describes the spare as already positioned on an external platform, which means the crew can complete the removal and replacement in a single excursion rather than waiting for new hardware to be delivered. The update does not state the age or failure status of the old unit, so the work may be planned hardware rotation, preventive maintenance or a response to degraded performance.

The crew roles behind the robotic assist

Menon and Adenot will carry out the hands-on work outside, while Hathaway and Meir control Canadarm2 from inside. Because Menon will be attached to the arm, the crew’s Friday rehearsal of precise movements, operating modes and safety procedures is operationally important: the arm must give him stable access to the Z1 worksite without creating a collision or positioning risk for the spacewalkers or station hardware.

Science continues alongside maintenance

The crew’s Friday schedule also included biomedical testing, hatch seal inspections, camera configuration and a Roscosmos aerodynamic drag experiment. That mix reflects the reality of station operations: even during a week focused on an upcoming spacewalk, long-duration research and routine upkeep must continue on the same timeline.