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This will be the first spacewalk experience for Glover, who is a few months away from his first space flight at the station.
This will be the third spacewalk for Hopkins, who has already completed two spacewalks during his first six-month space station adventure from September 25, 2013 to March 10, 2014.
Hopkins, Glover, NASA astronaut Shannon Walker and Japanese aerospace exploration agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi flew to the station in November aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft. They joined NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, who were already at the station after the launch in October.
For both spacewalks, Hopkins will wear the red striped space suit as crew member 1 and Hopkins will wear the unstriped space suit as crew member 2.
Astronauts will focus on completing the installation of Bartolomeo, the last payload accommodation station outside of the European Space Agency’s Columbus module, on January 27. They will complete the antenna and cable rigging to connect power and data connections.
The Bartolomeo platform, named after Christopher Columbus’ younger brother, is the first example of a European business partnership that provides a venue to conduct science and technology demonstrations outside the space station, according to the European Space Agency.
The Columbus module will also be upgraded with a terminal that provides an independent, high-bandwidth communication link for European ground stations.
Astronauts will install the last lithium-ion battery adapter plate on February 1. This installation puts an end to the work to replace aging batteries outside the station which began in January 2017.
During the two spacewalks, Rubins will use the robotic arm from inside the space station to help astronauts work outside.
They will focus on other upgrades, such as replacing an external standard camera with a new high-definition camera on the Destiny Lab, and replace the camera and lighting assembly components needed for the camera system of the Japanese robotic arm, located outside the Kibo module.
“We’ve been talking about these two EVAs (extra-vehicular activities) for a good part of the year, so we’re delighted to see them performed,” said Kenny Todd, deputy director of the International Space Station program at NASA during a press conference on Friday.
There are other spacewalks planned for the crew in late February and early March.
Glover and Rubins will team up for the third spacewalk to prepare the station’s electrical system for the installation of new solar panels, which will increase the power supply to the station.
During these long spacewalks, astronauts go through alternating cycles of day and night every 45 minutes, operating against the warm, bright light of the sun as well as against the cold darkness of space. This happens because the space station orbit the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour.
Although astronauts don’t feel the direct effects of extreme cold and heat, there is a risk of cold, so there are heaters installed in astronauts’ gloves to keep their hands warm, said Vincent Lacourt, director spacewalk flights to NASA for the February 1 spacewalk.
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