Two astronauts of Expedition 55 gears up for Thursday spacewalk

Image credit: NASA

New Delhi: Two astronauts of Expedition 55 will conduct a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, March 29 to install communications antennas on the Tranquility module.

The spacewalk will be performed by NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel. According to NASA, the duo has filled spacesuit tanks and cooling garments with water and reviewed checklists and warning systems.

As per the report, the two astronauts will work outside the space station for about 6.5 hours.They will also replace a camera assembly on the Port 1 truss structure. They are scheduled to begin the spacewalk at 5:40 p.m IST (8:10 a.m. ET) and NASA TV will broadcast live coverage of the spacewalk at 4:00 p.m IST (6:30 a.m. ET).

According to the US space agency, Flight Engineers Norishige Kanai and Scott Tingle will continue training for next week’s capture of the SpaceX Dragon resupply cargo craft with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Kanai will be at the robotics controls inside the cupola as Tingle monitors Dragon’s approach and rendezvous.

The resupply cargo craft is set to launch on Monday and arrive on Wednesday just ten meters away from the station. The cargo craft will deliver over 5,800 pounds of crew supplies, science gear, spacewalking equipment and other station hardware.