NASA Television will provide live coverage of and
commentary on the next spacewalk at the International Space
Station in the early morning hours on Tuesday, Aug. 3.
Coverage of the spacewalk on NASA TV will begin at 2 a.m.
EDT. The Expedition 9 crew, Gennady Padalka and Mike Fincke,
will open the hatch at about 3:10 a.m., and the spacewalk may
last as long as six hours.
Fresh from the successful replacement of a failed power
component on the Station during their last spacewalk June 30,
Padalka and Fincke will venture outside the complex again
from the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock in Russian
spacesuits. Their tasks will be to install and refresh
experiments on the outside of the Zvezda Service Module. The
experiments monitor residue from jet thruster firings and
measure the effects of space on a variety of materials.
Padalka, making his fifth spacewalk and Fincke, embarking on
his third, will also install navigation and communications
aids at the aft of Zvezda. The aids will assist in the
rendezvous and docking of the unpiloted European Automated
Transfer Vehicle cargo ship that will make its maiden flight
to the Station next year.
One additional spacewalk is planned for Padalka and Fincke in
early September. They are in the fourth month of a scheduled
six-month mission on the outpost.
On July 24, NASA Television moved to a different satellite
and is now seen in the continental United States on AMC-6, at
72 degrees west longitude, Transponder 9, 3880 MHz, vertical
polarization, audio at 6.8 MHz. If you live in Alaska or
Hawaii, NASA TV will now be seen on AMC-7, at 137 degrees
west longitude, Transponder 18, at 4060 MHz, vertical
polarization, audio at 6.8 MHz.
