UPDATE: Wednesday’s spacewalk was postponed after orbital debris was spotted close to the station. A new date for the walk has been set for Thursday, December 22. Details below.
NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio are preparing for a spacewalk at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, December 22.
It’ll be the third spacewalk — or extravehicular activity (EVA) to give it its official name — undertaken by Cassada and Rubio at the ISS, and the 12th to take place there this year.
As with their previous walks in November and early December, the pair will continue work on installing ISS Rollout Solar Arrays (IROSAs) on the station’s Port 4 Truss for the 4A Power Channel, part of the work to upgrade and improve the orbital facility’s power supply.
The excursion comes five days after NASA’s counterpart, Roscosmos, was forced to call an EVA involving two of its cosmonauts after a liquid was spotted leaking from a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that’s docked at the station. Roscosmos officials are continuing to investigate the incident, which seems unlikely to impact the timing of NASA’s scheduled spacewalk involving Cassada and Rubio.
What to expect
As usual, NASA will provide real-time video of the spacewalk, with views from fixed cameras as well as cameras attached to the astronauts’ helmets. Audio from Cassada and Rubio will also be shared, along with communications with the support crew inside the ISS and commentary from the ground team. With the station orbiting Earth at 17,00 mph, there’ll be several sunrises and sunsets to look out for during the EVA, too.
How to watch
The spacewalk is expected to start at around 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, December 22, though the livestream will begin at around 7:30 a.m. ET. Be sure to check the space station’s Twitter account for any late changes to the schedule.
Cassada and Rubio are expected to work outside the ISS for around seven hours.
You can watch the spacewalk via the video player at the top of this page, or by visiting NASA’s Live TV website, which will show the same footage.
