Things are about to get busy on the International Space Station as the first in a series of end-of-the-year spacewalks kicked off Tuesday morning.
First-time spacewalkers and NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio began their excursion outside the space station at 9:14 a.m. ET. The event is expected to last for about seven hours.
Cassada is wearing the spacesuit with red stripes as extravehicular crew member 1, while Rubio is in the unmarked suit as extravehicular crew member 2.
The astronauts will assemble a mounting bracket on the starboard side of the space station’s truss.
The hardware that will be installed during the spacewalk was delivered to the space station on November 9 aboard a Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft.
This hardware will allow for the installation of more rollout solar arrays, called iROSAs, to give the space station a power boost.