Watch NASA astronauts conduct the second spacewalk of 2021

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This is the duo’s second spacewalk in just a few days. It is scheduled to begin around 7 a.m. ET, with live coverage on the NASA website at 5:30 a.m. ET. The spacewalk is expected to last six and a half hours.

This is the second spacewalk experience for Glover, who is a few months away from his first space flight at the station.

“What a beautiful sight,” Glover said after starting his spacewalk last Wednesday.

This will be the fourth spacewalk for Hopkins, who has already completed two spacewalks during his first six-month stay on the space station from September 2013 to March 2014.

This is the 234th spacewalk in support of the assembly, maintenance and upgrades of the space station.

Astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover Jr. conducted their first spacewalk together on Wednesday, January 27.

Hopkins will wear the red striped spacesuit as crew member 1 and Glover will be in the non-striped spacesuit as crew member 2.

Astronauts will install the last lithium-ion battery adapter plate on Monday. They will connect it to the battery, which was installed by robot before the spacewalk. This installation puts an end to the work to replace old nickel-hydrogen batteries outside the station, which began in January 2017.

Glover and Hopkins will then move to the other side of the station to focus on further improvements. Their work includes replacing an external standard camera with a new high-definition camera on the Destiny lab, and replacing the camera and lighting assembly components needed for the Japanese robotic arm camera system, located at the exterior of the Kibo module. They will also route some Ethernet cables.

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 in mid-November. 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.

Rubins is tasked with operating the robotic arm from inside the space station to help astronauts work outside.

It & # 39; s is a full house on the International Space Station with 7 people - and Baby Yoda

There are more 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.

Rubins and Noguchi will conduct the fourth spacewalk to continue space station upgrades.

During these long spacewalks, astronauts cycle through alternating day and night cycles 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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