Watch a Live Spacewalk!
On Dec. 24, 2013, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, Expedition 38 Flight Engineer, participates in the second of two spacewalks, spread over a four-day period, which were designed to allow the crew to change out a degraded pump module on the exterior of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station. He was joined on both spacewalks by NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, whose image shows up in Hopkins' helmet visor.
Media Credit: NASA
Astronauts onboard the International Space Station are preparing for a pair of spacewalks to service Canadarm2, the station’s robotic arm. On Tuesday, Jan. 23, NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Scott Tingle will begin their spacewalk around 7:10 a.m. with live coverage on nasa.gov and NASA TV beginning at 5:30 a.m. On Monday, Jan. 29, Vande Hei and JAXA astronaut Norishige Kanai will venture outside the space station to complete other maintenance on Canadarm2.
Canadarm2 is a 17 meter-long robotic arm routinely used to move supplies, equipment and even astronauts. In addition to ISSInternational Space Station maintenance and upkeep, it is responsible for performing “cosmic catches,” the capturing and docking of unpiloted spacecraft that carry everything from science payloads to necessities for the crew onboard the ISS.