ISS astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet gear up for second spacewalk of 2017 to be performed on January 13!

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson during Friday's spacewalk. (Image courtesy: NASA/YouTube)

New Delhi: Spacewalks are events that science and space enthusiasts look forward to with the initiation of every consecutive expedition launch. NASA is aware of that and the event is always telecast live on NASA TV.

January 6, 2017 saw the year's first spacewalk being performed by NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson, with the latter setting a record of being the oldest woman to perform one.

But it's not over yet! The second phase of the spacewalk is going to be staged on Thursday, January 13 and will be once again performed by astronaut Shane Kimbrough and joining him this time, would be ESA astronaut/flight engineer Thomas Pesquet.

As was with the first phase of the spacewalk, the follow-up phase will also require the astronauts to robotically extract new batteries from a pallet to replace 12 older nickel-hydrogen batteries through a series of robotic operations before beginning the spacewalk. Nine of the older batteries will be stowed in a cargo resupply craft for later disposal, while three will remain on the station’s truss, disconnected from the power grid. This robotic operation, however, will not be aired.

Working on the right side truss of the space station, the crew members will install adapter plates and hook up electrical connections for six new lithium-ion batteries that were delivered to the station in December, NASA said.

Coverage of the spacewalks will begin at 5:30 am EST on NASA Television and the space agency’s website.

This will be the 197th spacewalk in support of space station assembly and maintenance. Kimbrough has been designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1), and will once again wear the suit bearing red stripes for Thursday's spacewalk as well, the fourth of his career.

Pesquet, who will be making the first spacewalk of his career, will be extravehicular crew member 2 for the second spacewalk, wearing a suit with no stripes, NASA reported.