NASA Spacewalk Briefing Highlights Solar Array Installation

Two astronauts will do a Spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, Aug. 24, to install a support bracket in preparation for the orbiting laboratory’s third new solar array’s eventual installation. At 2 p.m. EDT on Monday, Aug. 23, NASA will hold a press conference to discuss the forthcoming Spacewalk. NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app will broadcast live coverage of the news conference and Spacewalk.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will install a support bracket, known as a modification kit, on the inward port side of the station’s backbone truss structure in P4. The kit prepares the site for the future installation and deployment of the third of six new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSA), which will upgrade one of the station’s eight power channels known as 4A, which provides partial power to the US Laboratory, the Harmony module, and the Columbus module.

The modification kit will be fitted to the original solar arrays’ mast canister at the base. On a different truss, the crew will also replace a floating point measurement unit, which measures the electrical charging potential of the arrays and other surfaces in their vicinity. Reporters who desire to participate in the news conference by phone at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston must RSVP by 4 p.m. by calling the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111. The 20th of August is a Friday.

Due to safety concerns relating to the continuing COVID-19 epidemic, reporters will not be permitted to attend briefings on site at NASA centres. Anyone who is watching the briefing on social media can use the hashtag #Ask NASA to ask questions. On Tuesday, Aug. 24, live coverage of the Spacewalk will begin at 7 a.m. EDT, with the crew members expected to leave the station’s Quest airlock at 8:30 a.m. The Spacewalk is expected to last about 6 hours and 50 minutes.