NASA astronauts set for spacewalk to fix faulty International Space Station antenna system

Two National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts - Thomas Mashburn and Kayla Barron will conduct a spacewalk on November 30. According to a release by NASA, the duo will venture outside the International Space Station to replace a faulty antenna system.

The spacewalk carried out by Mashburn and Barron is expected to take around 6 hours and 30 minutes to complete. NASA informed that Astronaut Mattias Maurer of the European Space agency will be controlling the robotic arm inside the space station. 

NASA astronauts to head for spacewalk on 30 November

According to NASA, the two astronauts will exit the Quest airlock around 7.10 a.m. EST to replace an S-band Antenna Subassembly (SASA) with a spare available on the station's truss structure. The space station transmits low-rate voice and data with flight controllers on the ground over the S-band of radio frequencies. As per the space agency, the live coverage of the spacewalk will begin at 5.30 a.m. Space Station experts shared details regarding spacewalk scheduled to happen on November 30. 

Astronauts to replace faulty antenna

The antenna is unable to send signals to Earth using NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System and the astronauts will replace it. Thomas Mashburn and Kayla Barron will work at the Port 1 (P1) truss structure, where the antenna is mounted.

According to NASA, the degradation has not majorly affected station operations, however, mission managers have decided to install a new antenna to ensure communications. Furthermore, ISS has low-rate S-band systems and a high-rate KU-band communications system that relays videos.

During the spacewalk, Marshburn will position himself at the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm with Barron. NASA further revealed that Marshburn will serve as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), with red stripes on his spacesuit, while Barron will be extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2), with an unmarked suit.

Throughout the spacewalk, astronaut Mattias Maurer from the European Space agency will control the robotic arm inside the space station. Notably, this would be the fifth spacewalk for Marshburn, while it would be the first one for Barron. This is the station's 245th spacewalk.

Image: Twitter/NASA_Johnson