NASA's Crew-3 astronauts to conduct their first spacewalk on Nov 30; Here's how to watch

Just a day after getting welcomed aboard the International Space Station (ISS), two of NASA’s four Crew-3 astronauts- Thomas Mashburn and Kayla Barron will conduct their first spacewalk on November 30. According to a release by NASA, the duo will venture outside the ISS to replace a faulty antenna system necessary for establishing communication to Earth-based scientists.

NASA recently launched a crew of four astronauts- Raja Chari, Thomas Mashburn,  Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer for a six-month-long space mission.

Spacewalk and the jobs assigned to the duo

It is at around 5:40 pm (IST) on November 30, when Mashburn and Barron will exit the Quest airlock to replace an S-band Antenna Subassembly (SASA) with a spare already available on the station’s truss structure. In the spacewalk that is expected to last around six hours and 30 minutes, the duo will work at the Port 1 (P1) truss structure, where the antenna is mounted. NASA informed that the antenna recently lost its ability to send signals to Earth via NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. The release further said-

Although its (antenna’s) degradation has had a limited impact on station operations, mission managers decided to install a new antenna to ensure communications redundancy. The space station has additional low-rate S-band systems, as well as the high-rate KU-band communications system that relays video.

Throughout the spacewalk, Marshburn along with Barron will position himself at the end of the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. Contributing to the antenna replacement job will be European Space Agency’s (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer, who will be assigned to control the robotic arm from inside the ISS. NASA pointed out 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. Interestingly, Barron is about to undergo the first spacewalk of her career while it will be number five for the veteran Mashburn. The announcement comes just a day after the four astronauts were welcomed to the ISS after a 21-hour journey aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Here’s when and where to watch the spacewalk

NASA will stream the spacewalk live on its website, NASA TV, and the NASA app two hours before the astronauts step out. Viewers can tune in at 4 pm (IST) on November 30 for a spacewalk scheduled at 5:40 pm.

Image: