Two NASA astronauts prepare for their first spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) for maintenance work in low Earth orbit. This is only the fourth time that two women will leave the station together.
The spacewalk is expected to begin around 8:05 a.m. ET Wednesday and last about six and a half hours. NASA will broadcast extravehicular activity live NASA YouTube ChannelTHE NASA appAnd NASA Television. You can also tune in via the stream below. Coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. ET.
NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara are tasked with removing an electronics box from a communications antenna on the space station, as well as replacing one of 12 sets of pull-out bearings used to spin the solar panels aboard the ISS. follow the Sun as the space station orbits Earth.
This will be Moghbeli and O’Hara’s first spacewalk and the fourth all-female spacewalk. The first time two women donned spacesuits and left the ISS for maintenance work was in 2019. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir replaced a faulty power controller. The spacewalk was repeatedly delayed due to there are not enough smaller spacesuits on the ISS. Koch and Meir also participated in the second and third all-female spacewalks, in 2019 and 2020.
Wednesday’s spacewalk was originally scheduled for October 12, but was delayed due to coolant leak from an emergency heater on the Russian module. Two Russian astronauts inspected the leak during the final spacewalk outside the ISS on October 25 when a bubble of residual coolant escaped, forcing them to finish their time tied up outside the station.
NASA hasn’t provided an update on the leak since then, but it hopes it won’t affect the upcoming spacewalk.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Wednesday’s spacewalk would be the second all-female spacewalk. This will be the fourth.
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