NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station will conduct a spacewalk on Wednesday, Dec. 21, to install a rollout solar array to increase electrical power in support of operations and scientific research. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 7:45 a.m. EST and last about seven hours.
The agency will provide live coverage of the spacewalk beginning at 6:30 a.m. on NASA Television, the app, and the agencys website.
Expedition 68 Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada will exit the stations Quest airlock to install an International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) to augment power generation for the 4A power channel on the stations port truss.
Rubio will serve as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1) and will wear a suit with red stripes. Cassada will serve as extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2) and will wear an unmarked suit. The spacewalk will be the third in both Cassada and Rubios careers.
If more time is needed to complete the iROSA installation, a second spacewalk may be conducted on Tuesday, Dec. 27.
This will be the fourth iROSA installed on station out of a total six planned for installation. Overall, the iROSAs will increase power generation capability by up to 30%, increasing the stations total available power from 160 kilowatts to up to 215 kilowatts.
The iROSA arrived at the space station Nov. 27, following a launch aboard the agencys 26th SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply mission Nov. 26.
Cassada and Rubio are in the midst of a science missionliving and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions, including NASAsArtemismissions to the Moon.
