International Space Station astronauts Kate Rubins and Jeff Williams are now in spacewalk and are expected to remain outside of the ISS for hours.
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The spacewalk will begin at 8:05 am (1205 GMT). The mission is scheduled to last about six hours as the two astronauts on a spacewalk connect the docking adaptor with some help from the space station’s Candarm2 mechanical arm. The project is a result of a $3 billion partnership between NASA, Boeing and SpaceX in order to enable astronaut spaceflights to return back to US soil. It has awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to build commercial spaceships, with their first flights slated for 2017.
NASA is planning another spacewalk on September 1 to retract one of the thermal radiators outside the space station.
Did You Know: Today’s spacewalk is the 194th for the International Space Station. Thus the idea of a commercially owned space station isn’t new in the history of space operations.
Two US astronauts are installing a new doorway on the International Space Station, a key step toward opening up the station to new commercial vehicles. When these test flights prove a success, NASA will give the two aeronautics giants the green light to deliver astronauts to the ISS.
The spacewalk was the fourth for Williams, a veteran astronaut who on Wednesday will surpass USA astronaut Scott Kelly’s record for the most cumulative days in space for an American.
At the moment, astronauts like Rubins and Williams have to rely on Russian spacecraft to ferry them to and from the International Space Station, but once Boeing and SpaceX start flying – assuming congressional support for the program holds – that reliance will end. With the IDA secured to the ISS, the two spacewalking astronauts will connect the all-important power and data connectors.
The US had been paying Russian Federation to take its astronauts to the ISS.
“NASA’s trying to develop economic development in low-earth orbit”, Hill said, speaking on a panel of NASA staff assembled to discuss the upcoming Mars mission. Astronauts and cosmonauts have so far spent a total of 1,210 hours and 46 minutes spacewalking outside the station, where they conduct various tasks of assembling and repairing the ISS.
The IDA will allow new capsules built by private space exploration companies to connect to the ISS. The spacewalk was the maiden adventure of Rubins, but Williams was doing it for the fourth time in his career.
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Currently, the station’s operational life extends to 2024. Boeing is also developing a crew delivery craft called CST-100 Starliner, meant to be ready deliver astronauts to the ISS as early as 2017.
