Once all of their tools have been attached to their suits and double-checked, Kopra and Peake will nip out and (hopefully) replace a failed Solar Shunt Unit, as well as install a valve and cable.
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Major Peake will walk alongside NASA astronaut Tim Kopra in the mission, which is expected to begin at around 12.55pm tomorrow – and last for six hours.
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Musicians Pixie Lott, The Who, Peter Gabriel and the Pet Shop Boys also sent messages of support.
Veteran rockers The Who, quoting their own lyrics, added: “Good luck @astro_timpeake on your #EVA. I’m sure that Tim Peake is fully prepared for the task and will enjoy it immensely”.
Using a screen grab from Major Peake’s head camera, she wrote on Twitter: ” @astro_timpeake thank you for taking our boys with you into the vacuum of space”.
To start the mission they were put into an airlock, closing the interior door tight behind them before opening the second door to exit the station.
The six hours will be tiring for the pair as they fight against their pressurised suits.
Britain’s first official astronaut, former helicopter pilot Timothy Peake, embarked on his first spacewalk Friday morning, alongside American astronaut Timothy Kopra.
He will work in total darkness for roughly half the time, because the ISS takes 90 minutes to orbit the Earth, so the sun’s light will be blocked for 45 minutes at a time.
Major Peake arrived at the ISS on 15 December and will stay for six months.
However the space walk was terminated early after four hours and ten minutes for safety reasons, after Colonel Tim Kopra reported a small amount of water and dampness in his helmet’s absorption pad. In addition, Peake is keeping track of his skin condition, as part of the Skin-B experiment, and any signs of headaches during his time in space. “From a station perspective, we could live in this state for a while but the reality is if we were to have an additional failure in another channel, we would probably find ourselves a little more strapped”, Todd said.
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He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “Take a look around, look down and enjoy it, would be my advice to Tim. It’s the astronaut’s equivalent of stopping to smell the roses”.
