posted 10-28-2015 05:27 AM               

Astronauts to work outside space station

NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren will venture outside the International Space Station on Wednesday (Oct. 28) to cover the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) with a thermal blanket, lubricate the leading edge of the Canadarm2 and route power and data cables for a future docking port.

The two first-time spacewalkers are scheduled to begin the six hour, 30 minute extravehicular activity at 7:10 a.m. CDT (1210 GMT).

Kelly and Lingren will be assisted from inside the space station by JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui. Monitoring the activities from the ground will be Tracy Caldwell Dyson, a veteran of three spacewalks.

The AMS is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector that has been attached to the space station since 2011.

Kelly, wearing the red-striped suit, is EV crewmember 1. Lindgren, as EV 2, is wearing a suit with no stripes.

posted 10-28-2015 03:27 PM               

Kelly, Lindgren complete first spacewalk

NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren ended Wednesday's (Oct. 28) spacewalk at 2:19 p.m. CDT (1919 GMT) having completed most of the tasks planned for their excursion outside the International Space Station.

Kelly and Lindgren applied a thermal cover on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer; applied grease to a number of components in one of the latching ends of the Canadarm2 robotic arm; and began work to rig power and data system cables for the future installation of a docking port to the station that will be used for the arrival of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Greasing numerous parts of the robotic arm took somewhat longer than anticipated, and flight controllers chose to forego the lubrication of one component. However, engineers are satisfied the work that was completed sufficiently enhances the performance of the latching end effector. A lower priority task to reinstall a valve on the station will be assigned to crew members during a future spacewalk.

The seven hour, 16 minute spacewalk was a first for both astronauts. Crew members have now spent a total of 1,184 hours and 16 minutes conducting space station assembly and maintenance tasks over the course of 189 spacewalks.

Kelly and Lindgren will venture outside the station again on Friday, Nov. 6. The two spacewalks were scheduled around milestones in space. Tomorrow, Kelly becomes the U.S. astronaut who has lived in space the longest during a single U.S. space mission, and Monday the crew celebrates the 15th year of a continuous human presence in space aboard the station.

During the second spacewalk, Kelly and Lindgren will restore a truss cooling system to its original configuration after a 2012 spacewalk in which another team of astronauts attempted to isolate a coolant leak. They also will top off ammonia on the station's truss reservoirs.