Two NASA astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station today (June 13) and you can watch it live online for free.
NASA astronauts Tracey Caldwell Dyson and Matthew Dominick will perform a spacewalk, or extravehicular activity (EVA). The procedure is scheduled to begin on 8 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) It lasts about 6.5 hours.
You can watch International Space Station (ISS) activity on this page and the Space.com home page, provided by NASA, or you can watch the live stream Via the space agency. Coverage will start at 6:30 AM EST (1030 GMT). (You can read more about spacewalks and how they work on our EVA reference page.)
During the spacewalk, the duo will recover a faulty piece of communications equipment, known as a radio frequency array. Dyson will also survey the exterior of the space station to collect samples to study microorganisms in extreme microgravity environments.
“There is a group of scientists who are very interested in this, for example, going to Mars and understanding what we might take with us to the surface of Mars — discovering something on the surface of Mars that actually came from us, that kind of thing,” said Dina Kontila, deputy program manager for the International Space Station. NASA, on Tuesday (June 11) during a press conference to preview the spacewalk.
On Monday (June 10), fellow NASA astronaut Mike Barratt helped Dominic check the fit of the spacesuit, according to NASA. Blog update. On the same day, NASA astronaut Janet Epps joined Barratt, Dominic and Dyson to review the station’s Canadarm2 EVA procedures, which will assist Dyson and Dominic in their missions on Thursday.
Thursday’s EVA flight is the first of three upcoming spacewalks geared toward ongoing science and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. The other two events are expected to be held this summer as well.
Thursday’s spacewalk affected the schedule for the first-ever astronaut mission of Boeing’s Starliner capsule, called the Crew Flight Test (CFT).
CFT launched with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams on June 5. The duo met and docked with the International Space Station the next day, and were scheduled to remain on board for about a week. But Wilmore and Williams’ mission was recently extended by several days, and they are now expected to return to Earth no later than June 18.
NASA announced the postponement on Sunday (June 9), citing the need for additional time for current astronauts on the station to prepare for Thursday’s extravehicular activity (EVA). The extra days in orbit will also allow Willmore, Williams and ground teams to perform additional checks on the Starliner before the shakedown flight parachutes down to Earth.
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