NASA Television coverage of today’s spacewalk with NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata is now underway and is also available on the NASA app and the agency’s website.
The two Expedition 68 crew members are preparing to exit the International Space Station‘s Quest airlock for a spacewalk expected to begin at about 8:15 a.m. EST and last up to seven hours.
Mann and Wakata will work to complete the construction of a mounting platform on the 1A power channel as part of a planned solar array augmentation on the starboard side of the station’s truss.
The duo will complete the installation of the mounting platform that was started during a spacewalk on Jan. 20, relocate and install an articulating portable foot restraint from the P6 truss for future spacewalk tasks, and if time permits, complete cable routing on the 1B power channel.
The installation is part of a series of spacewalks to augment the station’s power channels with new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs). Four iROSAs have been installed so far, and two additional arrays will be mounted to the installed platforms during future spacewalks following their arrival later this year on SpaceX’s 28th commercial resupply services mission for NASA.
Mann will serve as extravehicular crew member 1 and will wear a suit with red stripes. Wakata will serve as extravehicular crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit. The spacewalk will be the second for both Mann and Wakata.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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