International Astronauts Begin Spacewalk to Modify Power System

Astronauts Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) have begun the first International Space Station spacewalk conducted by two international partner astronauts out of the station's Quest airlock.

The spacewalkers switched their spacesuits to battery power at 8:15 a.m. EDT to begin the spacewalk, which is expected to last about six and a half hours.

Watch the spacewalk on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency's website.

Hoshide is extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1), wearing a spacesuit bearing red stripes and using helmet camera #22. Pesquet is extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2), wearing the unmarked spacesuit and helmet camera #20.

The spacewalkers will begin by working together to build the upper bracket of the modification kit then installing first the left strut followed by the right strut to the mast canister, the base, of one of the solar arrays on the port side of the station's backbone truss structure. The support bracket will enable future installation of a third of six new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs) to upgrade one of the station's eight power channels. Known as 4A, the channel provides partial power to the U.S. Laboratory, the Harmony module, and the Columbus module.

This is the fourth spacewalk for Hoshide, the sixth spacewalk for Pesquet, and the station's 244^thspacewalk in support of assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

Learn more about station activities by following @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.