NASA TV has updated its broadcast times for two upcoming spacewalks. There will be live coverage as two Russian cosmonauts head outside the ISS on Friday, August 16 and Thursday, August 22. Though the broadcasts were initially going to be on a delay, they will now be broadcast live beginning at 10:00 AM EDT on Friday and 7:00 AM EDT next Thursday. The actual spacewalks will occur 40 minutes after the broadcast start times if all goes to plan.
Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin, with 6 spacewalks under his belt, will be wearing a Russian Orlan suit with red stripes. Alexander Misurkin currently has 1 spacewalk to his name and will also be wearing a Russian Orlan suit, but with blue stripes. Misurkin will also have a U.S. helmet camera to provide close up views of the work he will be performing.
During the first of the two spacewalks, the two astronauts will be routing power and Ethernet cables for the future arrival of the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module. Additionally, they will be installing an experiment designed to collect data on the effects of the microgravity environment in low-Earth orbit.
The second spacewalk will involve the removal of a space laser communications system, followed by installation of a platform on which a small optical telescope will be mounted on a future spacewalk.
The Friday event is occurring exactly one month after European astronaut Luca Parmitano nearly drowned ninety minutes into a planned six and a half hour spacewalk. This has resulted in the suspension of all American spacewalks while investigation continues into the cause of the leak. A suit repair kit was sent up on an transport in July.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Tigirus.
