Time Magazine published an article this morning on UT alumnus Scott Kelly and fellow astronaut Kjell Lindgren, and the six-hour space walk the two are having to conduct to perform much-needed repairs on the International Space Station.
In the article, Time notes that the maintenance is all the more critical due to its focus on certain aspects of the space station that have become areas of need since the station became operational 15.
Kelly earned his Masters in Aviation Systems from UT Space Institute in Tullhoma in 1996. UTSI is a member of the UT-Knoxville, College of Engineering.
Of note, this will be a particularly challenging repair mission, as highlighted by Time:
The first spacewalk—or EVA (extravehicular activity) in NASA’s preferred parlance—will mostly involve some basic electrical work, with Kelly and Lindgren running new cables along portions of the station’s length to provide power for docking ports that will be needed when new commercial crew and cargo vessels begin arriving in 2017. The astronauts will also install a thermal cover on a scientific instrument to protect it from the extreme temperatures of space, and will lubricate portions of the ISS’s robotic arm.
The full story can be seen at Time