New Delhi: It's spacewalk time again for the International Space Station (ISS) astronauts!
Spacewalks are events that science and space enthusiasts look forward to with the initiation of every consecutive expedition launch. NASA is aware of that and the event is always telecast live on NASA TV.
This time, it is the Russian cosmonauts aboard the ISS who are going to be taking the reins of the space event.
On August 17, Expedition 52 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy, of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, will don their spacesuits and exit the station's Pirs airlock at approximately 10:45 am EDT.
According to NASA, Ryazanskiy will begin the schedule of extravehicular activities with the manual deployment of five nanosatellites from a ladder outside the airlock. The satellites, each of which has a mass of about 11 pounds, have a variety of purposes.
One of the satellites, with casings made using 3-D printing technology, will test the effect of the low-Earth-orbit environment on the composition of 3-D printed materials. Another satellite contains recorded greetings to the people of Earth in 11 languages. A third satellite commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch and the 160th anniversary of the birth of Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
The spacewalkers will be involved in collecting residue samples from various locations outside the Russian segment of the station and install handrails and struts to facilitate future excursions.
Yurchikhin will be designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1) for this spacewalk, the ninth of his career. Ryazanskiy, embarking on his fourth spacewalk, will be extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2). Both will wear Russian Orlan spacesuits bearing blue stripes, NASA reported.
The spacewalk will be the 202nd in support of space station assembly and maintenance and the seventh spacewalk this year.
