Two NASA astronauts will conduct a spacewalk early Wednesday (Dec. 21) to put in new solar arrays on the Worldwide Area Station (ISS), and you may watch it reside.
Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio are scheduled to enterprise exterior the orbiting lab at 7:45 a.m. EST (1245 GMT) Wednesday on a spacewalk anticipated to final about seven hours. You possibly can observe the motion reside right here at Area.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the agency (opens in new tab), starting at 6:30 a.m. EST (1130 GMT).
Cassada and Rubio will set up a brand new ISS Roll-Out Photo voltaic Array (iROSA), the fourth of six such constructions pegged for the orbiting lab’s exterior. The iROSAs will increase the station’s present solar panel system; when all six are up and working, the orbiting lab’s energy provide will enhance by 20% to 30%, NASA officers have stated.
Associated: The most memorable spacewalks of all time in pictures
NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan’s Koichi Wakata will support Cassada and Rubio on Wednesday from contained in the orbiting lab.
Mann and Wakata “might be on the robotics workstation commanding Canadarm2 and aiding the spacewalking duo in the course of the fine-tuned set up job,” NASA officers wrote in an update on Tuesday (opens in new tab) (Dec. 20).
Wednesday morning’s spacewalk was initially scheduled to happen on Monday (Dec. 19). However NASA pushed it again two days, as a result of the company wished to make use of the cameras on the tip of the robotic, 57.7-foot-long (17.6 meters) Canadarm2 to examine a leaky Russian Soyuz capsule that is docked with the ISS.
That Soyuz, often called MS-22, suffered a coolant leak on Dec. 14, as two Russian cosmonauts had been prepping for a spacewalk of their very own (which ended up being canceled).
In the course of the Sunday (Dec. 18) Soyuz inspection, Canadarm2’s cameras spotted a small hole close to the suspected leak website. Russian space officers are learning the outlet as they attempt to decide the flightworthiness of the Soyuz, which is meant to return Rubio and two cosmonauts to Earth in March. If MS-22 cannot fly safely, Russia will launch one other Soyuz to the ISS to take the trio house.
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a guide in regards to the seek for alien life. Observe him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Observe us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab).
