Spacewalkers attach docking adapter to space station for commercial vehicles

https://spaceflightnow.com/2016/08/19/spacewalkers-attach-new-port-to-space-station-for-commercial-spacecraft/ ^ | 08/19/2016 | WIlliam Harwood

[BenLurkin]

Attached to the station’s no-longer-needed shuttle port at the front of the station, the Boeing-built International Docking Adapter will allow spacecraft from both companies to bring crews to the outpost, ending NASA’s sole reliance on Russian Soyuz ferry ships. A second IDA is expected to be attached in 2018.

“It is amazing that now we’ve opened up a new chapter in the story of the International Space Station, putting the front door on this for future commercial vehicles,” radioed station commander Jeff Williams, who worked with astronaut Kate Rubins to attach and outfit the IDA. “Congratulations to the entire team.”

Williams, making his fourth spacewalk, and Rubins, making her first, began the spacewalk at 8:04 a.m. EDT (GMT-4). After exiting the Quest airlock and collecting tools and foot restraints, they made their way to the front of the station where the shuttle port — pressurized mating adapter No. 2 — extends from the forward end of the Harmony module.

The new docking mechanism was carried up to the station aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship in June. Overnight Wednesday, the station’s robot arm pulled it from the Dragon’s unpressurized trunk and positioned just in front of PMA-2 to await the spacewalkers.

[PIF]

The Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SS3UsMDdik