Society

Japanese astronaut Hoshide completes 4th spacewalk

Sep 13 (NHK) - Japanese astronaut Hoshide Akihiko has completed a spacewalk out of the International Space Station, his first in the current mission and fourth overall. He currently serves as commander of the ISS.

Wearing a spacesuit, Hoshide went outside the ISS with Thomas Pesquet of France for nearly seven hours of extravehicular activities on Sunday UTC.

The two astronauts successfully attached a support bracket for installing new solar panels for the station and replaced an old measuring device.

Hoshide's spacewalks now total 28 hours and 17 minutes, surpassing the record for a Japanese astronaut previously held by Noguchi Soichi by more than an hour.

The spacewalk was originally scheduled for August. It was postponed on grounds of a health issue involving a US astronaut, who was to have been Hoshide's partner in the activities.

Hoshide has been staying in the ISS since April. It is his third mission in space. The ISS is orbiting at 400 kilometers above Earth.

He is scheduled to carry out scientific experiments and other activities before flying back to Earth in early November.

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