NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Two Spacewalks Planned for Late August

Joe Acaba talks to Spanish-language media from inside the Destiny laboratory. Credit: NASA TV

Expedition 32 is preparing for two EVAs, or extravehicular activities, also known as spacewalks. A Russian spacewalk is scheduled for Aug. 20 and a U.S. spacewalk is planned for Aug. 30.

A briefing to preview both spacewalks is scheduled for Aug. 14 at 2 p.m. EDT on NASA TV.

Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko will spend about six hours relocating the Strela-2 hand-operated crane from the Pirs docking compartment to the Zarya module. Pirs will be undocked at a later date to make room for a new Russian multipurpose laboratory module.

Flight Engineers Suni Williams and Aki Hoshide will work outside to replace a failing main bus switching unit on the station’s truss structure. The astronauts may also reroute cables and install debris and thermal covers if time permits.

The crew members have been getting their spacewalk tools ready while reviewing procedures. The cosmonauts also have been checking their Russian Orlan spacesuits.

Meanwhile, the six station crew members had time scheduled for ongoing science and routine maintenance.

Williams participated in the VO2max experiment which measures an astronaut’s aerobic capacity. She also fed spiders and swapped out their habitats for a YouTube experiment.

› Read more about VO2max

Flight Engineer Joe Acaba then assisted Williams for an educational demonstration with Lego Bricks. Acaba also downloaded data captured for the Integrated Cardiovascular experiment and replaced batteries in an EXPRESS rack. He also spoke to WAPA-TV in Puerto Rico and the Spanish-language television channel Univision.

› Read more about Lego Bricks
› Read more about Integrated Cardiovascular

Flight Engineer Sergei Revin replaced lights, checked a water tank and measured sound levels in the station’s Russian segment. Revin also had time scheduled for work on two ongoing Russian experiments, Matryeshka and Sprut-2.

› Read more about Matryeshka
› Read more about Sprut

› Read more about Expedition 32
› Expedition 32 Mission Summary (4.7 MB PDF)