NASA Two upcoming spacewalks outside the International Space Station (ISS) will involve NASA astronauts, both of whom are embarking on their first spacewalks.
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara is scheduled to participate in these spacewalks, with the first one set for Thursday, October 12, and the second on Friday, October 20. During the first spacewalk, she will be joined by ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and during the second, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli will accompany her.
READ:Could GTA 6 Become the Most Expensive Video Game in History? Astonishing Estimated Cost Revealed”
NASA will provide insights into these spacewalks through a news conference at 1 p.m. EDT on Friday, October 6, hosted at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The news conference will be broadcast live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
NASA
The participants in the news conference include:
- Dana Weigel, Deputy Manager, International Space Station Program, Johnson
- Elias Myrmo, Spacewalk Flight Director, NASA Johnson
- Faruq Sabur, U.S. Spacewalk 89 Officer, NASA Johnson
- Sandra Fletcher, U.S. Spacewalk 90 Officer, NASA Johnson
Media representatives who wish to attend the news conference in person or via phone must contact the Johnson newsroom by 10 a.m. on Friday, October 6, by calling 281-483-5111 or emailing jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. For phone questions, reporters must dial into the news conference no later than 15 minutes before its start. Questions can also be submitted on social media using the hashtag #Ask.
The first spacewalk is scheduled to commence at 10 a.m. and is expected to last around six hours, with NASA TV coverage starting at 8:30 a.m.
During this first spacewalk on October 12, O’Hara and Mogensen will exit the Quest airlock to collect samples from the exterior of the ISS for analysis to determine the possible presence of microorganisms. Additionally, they will replace a high-definition camera on the port truss of the station and perform other maintenance tasks to prepare for future spacewalks.
O’Hara will serve as extravehicular activity (EVA) crew member 1 and will be wearing a suit with red stripes. Mogensen will serve as extravehicular crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit. U.S. spacewalk 89 will mark the first spacewalk for both crew members.
On October 20, during the second spacewalk, O’Hara and Moghbeli will continue their work by removing a faulty electronics box, known as a Radio Frequency Group, from a communications antenna on the starboard truss of the ISS. They will also replace one of the twelve Trundle Bearing Assemblies on the port truss Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, which is crucial for the station’s solar arrays to properly track the sun during its orbit around Earth. During this spacewalk, Moghbeli will serve as EVA crew member 1, and O’Hara will serve as EVA crew member 2. U.S. spacewalk 90 will be the first spacewalk for Moghbeli and the second for O’Hara.
The second spacewalk is set to begin at 7:30 a.m. and is anticipated to last approximately six and a half hours, with NASA TV coverage starting at 6 a.m.
