International Space Station Spacewalk Monday Will Complete Long-Term Battery Upgrade

NASA & SPACE NEWS

(NASA) – Two NASA astronauts are scheduled to venture outside the International Space Station Monday, Feb. 1, for a spacewalk to finish installing a European science platform and complete long-term battery upgrade work.

The spacewalk will begin about 7 a.m. and will last about six and a half hours.

NASA Flight Engineers Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover, who flew to the space station aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft, will conduct both spacewalks, which will be the 233rd and 234th in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

The spacewalk will address a variety of tasks, including the installation of a final lithium-ion battery adapter plate on the port 4 (P4) truss that will wrap up battery replacement work begun in January 2017.

Hopkins and Glover will remove another grapple fixture bracket on the same truss segment, replace an external camera on the starboard truss, install a new high-definition camera on the Destiny laboratory, and replace components for the Japanese robotic arm’s camera system outside the Kibo module.

Hopkins will be extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1) for both spacewalks, wearing a spacesuit with red stripes, and Glover will be extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2), wearing a spacesuit with no stripes.

This will be the fourth spacewalk in Hopkins’ career and the second for Glover.

This spacewalk is scheduled to be followed by two additional spacewalks in the near future.

During the third spacewalk, Glover and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will work outside the station to prepare its power system for the installation of new solar arrays to augment the station’s existing power supply.

For the fourth spacewalk, Rubins and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut, Soichi Noguchi will continue upgrading station components. Another briefing will be scheduled to preview the next two spacewalks after the dates are set.

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