Two Spacewalkers Exit Station for Science Upgrades

NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins participates in a spacewalk in December of 2013 at the space station during Expedition 38.
NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins participates in a spacewalk in December of 2013 outside the space station during Expedition 38.

NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover have begun the first in a series of spacewalks to upgrade station hardware and systems.

The spacewalkers switched their spacesuits to battery power at 6:28 a.m. EST to begin the spacewalk, which is expected to last about six-and-a-half hours.

Watch the spacewalk on NASA TV and on the agency’s website.

Hopkins is extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1), wearing the spacesuit with red stripes, and using helmet camera #18. Glover is extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2), wearing the spacesuit with no stripes and helmet camera #20.

This spacewalk will be the third in Hopkins’ career and the first for Glover, and the 233rd spacewalk overall in support of space station assembly and maintenance.

Hopkins and Glover will work on completing cable and antenna rigging for the “Bartolomeo” science payloads platform outside the ESA (European Space Agency) Columbus module. The duo also will configure a Ka-band terminal that will enable an independent, high-bandwidth communication link to European ground stations. After completing the upgrades on the Columbus module, Hopkins and Glover will remove a grapple fixture bracket on the far port (left) truss in preparation for future power system upgrades.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.



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