How to watch two astronauts perform their first spacewalk on Friday

This Friday, January 20, will see two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) head out of the station’s Quest airlock to install new hardware to the station’s exterior.

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What to expect from the spacewalk
How to watch the spacewalk

If you’re interested in seeing what it is like to work in space, then NASA will be livestreaming the entire spacewalk along with commentary to explain it, and we’ve got details below on how you can watch.

What to expect from the spacewalk

A photo of Expedition 68 Flight Engineer and NASA spacewalker Josh Cassada on Dec. 22, 2022, preparing a roll-out solar array for its deployment on the International Space Station's Port-4 truss segment as the orbiting lab flew 264 miles above the Indian Ocean off the coast of South Africa. — A photo of Expedition 68 Flight Engineer and NASA spacewalker Josh Cassada on Dec. 22, 2022, preparing a roll-out solar array for its deployment on the International Space Station’s Port-4 truss segment as the orbiting lab flew 264 miles above the Indian Ocean off the coast of South Africa. NASA

The two astronauts performing the spacewalk will be NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and this will be the first spacewalk for both of them. They will be working on the ongoing project of upgrading the space station’s power system, which involves installing new solar arrays called iROSAs. So far, four out of a total of six iROSAs have been installed since 2021.

Mann and Wakata won’t be installing solar arrays this time though, instead, they will be installing two mounting platforms which will be used for installing arrays in the future.

“The duo will complete the installation of a mounting platform on the 1B power channel that was started during a previous spacewalk and begin installing a mounting platform on the 1A power channel,” NASA writes.

If you’re watching the spacewalk and wondering which astronaut is which, then Mann will be wearing an unmarked white suit, while Wakata will be wearing a white suit with red stripes.

How to watch the spacewalk

The spacewalk will be live-streamed on NASA TV, which you can watch either by using the video embedded near the top of this page or by heading over to the NASA TV stream on YouTube.

Coverage of the spacewalk will begin at 7 a.m. ET (4 a.m. PT) on Friday, January 20, with the spacewalk itself scheduled to begin at 8:15 a.m. ET (5:15 a.m. PT). Coverage will run for the duration of the spacewalk, which is estimated to be around six and a half hours.

What to expect from the spacewalk

How to watch the spacewalk

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