Astronauts Don Pettit and Butch Wilmore pack external research hardware

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iss072e280736 (Nov. 26, 2024) --- NASA astronauts (from left) Don Pettit and Butch Wilmore, both Expedition 72 flight engineers, pack external research hardware removed from the Kibo laboratory module's airlock. The hardware housed a variety of samples exposed to the vacuum of space such as polymers, photovoltaic devices, and more. The samples will be returned to Earth and examined to understand how space radiation, the extreme thermal environment, micrometeoroids, and more affect materials possibly benefitting the space industry.

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