A French and an American astronaut are scheduled to float outside the International Space Station Friday for a spacewalk aimed at upgrading the orbiting outpost for the arrival of future space crews.
The
spacewalk by France's Thomas Pesquet, 39, and American Shane Kimbrough,
49, will be the latest in a series of outings to install new docking
ports for the next generation of commercial spacecraft.
The
new crew spaceships, currently under design by SpaceX and Boeing,
should begin flying astronauts to the station in the coming years, as
early as 2018.
Currently, the only way the world's
astronauts can reach orbit is by buying a ride aboard Russia's Soyuz
capsules, at $81 million per seat.
The goals for
Friday's spacewalk include preparing for the installation of the second
of two parking spots for space taxis, known as the International Docking
Adapter.
The pair of spacewalkers "will
disconnect cables and electrical connections on the pressurized mating
adapter (PMA-3) to prepare for its robotic move Thursday, March 30"
during another spacewalk, NASA said in a statement.
The
mating adapter equipment "will be moved from the port side of the
Tranquility module to the space-facing side of the Harmony module."
In
its new location, it will become the home for the International Docking
Adapter, to be delivered on a future flight of a SpaceX Dragon cargo
ship.
Pesquet and Kimbrough also plan to install
new computer equipment outside the space station, and will lubricate and
inspect the space station's robotic arm, used to grab approaching
spacecraft and move items outside the global laboratory.
Other
tasks include inspecting a radiator valve suspected of a small ammonia
leak and replacing cameras on the Japanese segment of the outpost, the
US space agency said.
NASA television coverage of the spacewalk is set to begin at 6:30 am (1030 GMT).
The spacewalk will be Pesquet's second and Kimbrough's fifth.
The
next outing on March 30 will include Kimbrough and American astronaut
Peggy Whitson, making the eighth such outing of her career.
A
third spacewalk on April 6 is to include Pesquet and Whitson, who will
surpass the record for spacewalks by any female astronauts.
Later
in April, the 57-year-old Whitson will also break the record for most
number of days spent in space by an American astronaut.
The current US record of 534 days is held by astronaut Jeff Williams.
Russian
cosmonaut Gennady Padalka holds the record for the most cumulative days
ever in space, at 879 days over five career trips.
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