WASHINGTON – Two members of the Expedition 35 crew will venture outside the International Space Station on April 19 for a six-hour spacewalk to deploy and retrieve several science experiments and install a new navigational aid.
NASA Television will broadcast the spacewalk live beginning at 9:30 a.m. EDT. Russian flight engineers Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko will open the hatch to the Pirs airlock and docking compartment to start the spacewalk at 10:06 a.m.
The spacewalkers’ first task will be to install the Obstanovka experiment on the station’s Zvezda service module. Obstanovka will study plasma waves and the effect of space weather on Earth’s ionosphere.
They will retrieve the Biorisk experiment, which studied the effect of microbes on spacecraft structures. If time permits, they also will retrieve one section of the Vinoslivost experiment, which exposed materials samples to space.
While at the far end of Zvezda, Vinogradov and Romanenko will replace a faulty retro-reflector device, one of a suite of navigational aids that will provide assistance to the European Space Agency’s Albert Einstein Automated Transfer Vehicle 4 cargo ship during its final approach for an automated docking to the space station in June.
This spacewalk will be the 167th in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the seventh for Vinogradov and the first for Romanenko. Both spacewalkers will wear spacesuits marked by blue stripes. Romanenko’s suit will be equipped with a helmet camera to provide close-up views of the spacewalk activity as it progresses.
This is the first of as many as six Russian spacewalks planned for this year. Two U.S. spacewalks are scheduled in July.
For NASA TV schedule and video streaming information, visit:
For information on the International Space Station, visit:
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Tracy Young
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
tracy.g.young@nasa.gov
Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov
Josh Byerly
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
josh.byerly@nasa.gov