Spacewalk Today at International Space Station
Cosmonauts to install equipment today at ISS.
Aug. 16, 2013 — -- Two Russian cosmonauts will venture outside the International Space Station today. During the spacewalk, which begins at 10:40 a.m. ET, flight engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin will install equipment for the arrival of a new Russian module and begin preparations for the installation later this year of an optical telescope.
WATCH LIVE NOW: Walk Will Start at 10:40 a.m. ET Today
They also will install on the Poisk module a panel of experiments designed to collect data on the effects of the microgravity environment in low-Earth orbit. The astronauts will wear Orlon spacesuits, which are not the same spacesuits that U.S. astronauts wear on spacewalks, though the design principles are the same.
Last month on a similar routine spacewalk, Astronaut Luca Parmitano nearly drowned when water seeped into his helmet, impairing his ability to see and hear. NASA is still unsure what caused the leak. It is still conducting intensive forensic work to figure out the cause.