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NASA Previews U.S. Space Station Spacewalks

By  //  October 1, 2014

will replace failed power regulator

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NASA.gov – Three astronauts of the International Space Station Expedition 41 crew will conduct two spacewalks outside the orbiting laboratory Tuesday, Oct. 7 and Wednesday, Oct. 15 to replace a failed power regulator and relocate a failed cooling pump.

NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman (left) and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, both Expedition 41 flight engineers, take a moment to pose for a photo with two Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits in the Quest airlock of the International Space Station while preparing for two spacewalks scheduled in October 2014. (NASA.gov image)
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman (left) and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, both Expedition 41 flight engineers, take a moment to pose for a photo with two Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits in the Quest airlock of the International Space Station while preparing for two spacewalks scheduled in October 2014. (NASA.gov image)

NASA Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman and Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency will exit the station’s Quest airlock for the Oct. 7 spacewalk at about 8:10 a.m., both wearing U.S. spacesuits. NASA TV coverage of the planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk will begin at 7 a.m. Wiseman will be extravehicular crew member one (EV1) and will wear a suit bearing red stripes.

Submerged in the waters of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory NASA astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti conduct a simulated spacewalk to refine techniques. (NASA image)
Submerged in the waters of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory NASA astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti conduct a simulated spacewalk to refine techniques. (NASA image)

Gerst will be EV2 and wear a suit with no stripes. The astronauts will move a failed cooling pump from temporary to long-term storage on the station’s truss. They also will install a new relay system that will provide backup power options to the mobile transporter, which moves the large robotic arm around the out outside of the space station.

Wiseman will venture outside Quest again Oct. 15, with NASA Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore, a new arrival to the space station, for another six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. The two-man team will replace a sequential shunt unit electronics box, a voltage regulator, on the starboard truss that failed in mid-May. Although the station has since operated normally on seven of its eight power channels, the voltage regulator replacement is considered a high priority.

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Wiseman, again designated EV1, and Wilmore, who will serve as EV2, also will relocate external cameras and equipment to begin configuring the station for international docking adapters for future commercial crew vehicles. Coverage of this second spacewalk begins at 7 a.m. with the spacewalk expected to begin around 8:10 a.m.

The spacewalks will be the 182nd and the 183rd in support of station assembly and maintenance. All three astronauts will be conducting the first spacewalks of their careers.