David Saint-Jacques Completes the Spacewalk and Becomes the Fourth Canadian Astronaut to Do So

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We are talking about astronaut David Saint-Jacques, who was scheduled to a six-hour spacewalk alongside Anne McClain. The astronaut became the fourth Canadian to complete a spacewalk since 2007, with tasks from NASA. After finishing the mission and returning to ISS, the Canadian declared that “the international effort was an excellent example of collaboration” and this is how we can make progress.

How Did The Spacewalk Go for David Saint-Jacques?

During the spacewalk, minor issues were reported, like the fact that McClain’s voice was heard faint at times by David Saint-Jacques. Sometimes they could barely hear their colleagues over the radio, and they shouted or repeated words at a time to time. Moreover, McClain says that she had moisture inside her helmet, and because of that the change to her visor was noticeable.

After they returned to the space station, a colleague noted that it was sweat. But moisture inside helmets is a problem for NASA after an Italian astronaut almost drowned during a spacewalk.

However, the tasks of the mission were completed in the six-hour spacewalk. The pair started half-an-hour earlier than it was scheduled, the station was surrounded due to the duties of upgrading the station’s wireless communication system, relocating a battery adaptor plate, connecting jumper cables to the midpoint of the central truss for Canadarm2.

The new cables are allowing the robotic hand to make repairs in case of a power failure without a spacewalk being required. They returned inside ISS before 2 P.M. EDT, exhausted, with no food and one liter of water in the suit pouch.

What About the Other Three Canadian Astronauts That Performed Spacewalks?

Retired astronaut Dave Williams, holds the Canadian record for the most spacewalks- three from a total of under 18 hours outside the ISS during a 2007 mission. At that time, there was extensive building on the station, but after that, they transitioned to maintenance tasks. The other two Canadian astronauts that performed spacewalks are Steve MacLean in 2006 and Chris Hadfield in 2001.

Finally, the fourth Canadian astronaut, David Saint-Jacques, alongside McClain and Oleg Kononenko of the Russian space agency, will return to Earth in June.

Doris’s passion for writing started to take shape in college where she was editor-in-chief of the college newspaper. Even though she ended up working in IT for more than 7 years, she’s now back to what he always enjoyed doing. With a true passion for technology, Doris mostly covers tech-related topics.