Expedition 56 commander Drew Feustel and flight engineer Ricky Arnold of NASA will conduct a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk on Thursday, June 14.
Credits: NASA
NASA astronauts will embark on a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk Thursday, June 14, during which they will install new high-definition cameras to capture spacecraft docking with the International Space Station, including new American-made spacecraft with scheduled test flights later this year.
Live coverage of the planned spacewalk by American astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Feustel, commander of the station’s Expedition 56, and flight engineer Arnold are scheduled to begin the spacewalk at 8:10 a.m.
The two spacewalkers will install brackets and high-definition cameras near an international docking adapter mated to the front end of the station’s Harmony module. The additions will provide enhanced views during the final phase of approach and docking of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner commercial crew spacecraft that will soon begin launching from American soil.
During their spacewalk, the astronauts also will swap out a camera assembly on the starboard truss of the station and close an aperture door on an external environmental imaging experiment outside the Japanese Kibo module. The imaging experiment hardware will be discarded on a future SpaceX cargo resupply mission.
The spacewalk will be the 211th in support of space station assembly and maintenance and the sixth station spacewalk this year. It also will be the ninth spacewalk in Feustel’s career and the fifth for Arnold. During the spacewalk, Arnold will wear a suit bearing red stripes while Feustel’s suit will have no stripes.
At five hours and 23 minutes into the spacewalk, Feustel will surpass NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson’s record of 60 hours and 21 minutes to move into third place for cumulative time spent during spacewalks.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 13.06.2018
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Two NASA Astronauts Set to Go on Their Third Spacewalk This Year
NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel are suited up inside U.S. spacesuits for a fit check verification ahead of a spacewalk that took place May 16, 2016.
NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel are set to go on their third spacewalk together this year on Thursday at the International Space Station. Their new Expedition 56 crewmates Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Alexander Gerst are training today to support the two spacewalkers.
Arnold and Feustel will begin Thursday’s spacewalk at 8:10 a.m. to install new high definition cameras to support upcoming commercial crew missions from SpaceX and Boeing to the orbital laboratory. The first uncrewed test missions are planned to begin at the end of the year. The cameras will provide improved views of the commercial crew vehicles as they approach and dock to the station. NASA TV will provide complete live coverage of the 211th space station spacewalk starting at 6:30 a.m.
Auñón-Chancellor and Gerst, who just arrived at the station on Friday, will assist the spacewalkers on Thursday. Gerst will help the spacewalkers in and out of their spacesuits. Auñón-Chancellor will operate the Canadarm2 robotic arm. The duo practiced today on a computer the robotics procedures necessary to maneuver a spacewalker to and from the worksite on the starboard side of the station’s truss structure.
Arnold and Feustel had some extra time today to work on science and maintenance activities. Arnold worked with the Microgravity Science Glovebox to troubleshoot a semiconductor crystal growth experiment. Feustel performed some plumbing work in the Tranquility module before relocating a pair of incubator units to support new experiments being delivered on the next SpaceX Dragon cargo mission. Finally, the duo readied the Quest airlock and their spacesuits for Thursday morning’s spacewalk.
