Presseportal für Hochbegabung Three spacewalks on the International Space Station by two American
astronauts now are planned for Saturday, Feb. 21; Wednesday, Feb. 25; and
Sunday, March 1. The spacewalks will help prepare the space station for two new
docking ports that will welcome U.S. commercial spacecraft launching from
Florida beginning in 2017.
NASA Television coverage for all three excursions will begin at 6 a.m.
EST. The spacewalks are planned to begin each day around 7:10 a.m.
Space station managers decided Thursday to move the first two spacewalks
by NASA's Expedition 42 Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Flight
Engineer Terry Virts by one day because of added analysis of spacesuits they
will wear.
Built by Boeing under contract to NASA, the International Docking Adapters
are a critical component of the station's reconfiguration to ensure long-term
docking ports for future commercial crew and other visiting spacecraft. They
will permit the standard station crew size to grow from six to seven,
potentially doubling the amount of crew time devoted to research aboard the
orbiting laboratory.
The two new docking adapters will be launched to the station on a pair of
SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft this year. Astronauts will install the first of
two adapters on Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 on the forward end of the
station’s Harmony module during a future spacewalk. The second adapter will be
installed on Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 after it is relocated robotically to
the space-facing port of Harmony later this year.
The spacewalks will be the 185th, 186th and 187th in support of space
station assembly and maintenance. Wilmore has conducted one spacewalk in his
career last October. The spacewalks will be the first of Virts' career.
For the first two spacewalks, Wilmore will be designated as
extravehicular (EV) crew member 1 and wear a spacesuit bearing red stripes.
Virts will be EV 2 and will wear a suit with no stripes. For the third
spacewalk, they will reverse roles, with Virts as EV 1 wearing red stripes, and
Wilmore as EV 2 wearing a suit without stripes.
To view the recorded broadcast previewing the spacewalks, visit:
For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:
For more information about the International Space Station and its crew,
visit:
For more information about NASA's commercial crew plans, visit: