Two NASA astronauts, Expedition 42 Commander Barry Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts will do a 6.5-hour spacewalk outside the ISS (International Space Station) at 7:10am EST (12:10 GMT) today.
According to NASA, this is the second of three spacewalks to prepare cables for new docking ports so that future crews that leave from Florida may dock to the space station.
The two astronauts will also carry out other preparations for a reconfiguration of the space station ahead of the arrival of private crewed spacecraft.
Both Boeing and SpaceX are planning to launch passengers from the Space Coast starting in 2017. In order to allow these commercial vehicles to dock at ISS, suitable docking adaptors and cables need to be installed.
Mr. Wilmore and Mr. Virts will deploy two bundles of cables that will provide data and power for a new docking adaptor. They will also be lubricating the robotic arm.
According to NASA Senior Project Manager:
“This entails a tremendous amount of relocation. This is the largest project we’ve done, certainly since the end of the shuttle program.”
Livestream by NASA TV Media