NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnknen will leave the International Space Station today (June 26) for a seven-hour spacewalk and can be seen live here, courtesy of NASA TV.
The spacewalk will begin at 7:35 am EDT (1135 GMT) and will last approximately seven hours. During that time, Cassidy and Behnken will begin work to replace the station’s old port nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries for the outpost’s solar panels. It is the first of four spacewalks in the coming weeks dedicated to updating the power system.
NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken are scheduled to leave the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, June 26 and Wednesday, July 1 for spacewalks to begin replacing the batteries in one of the power channels. in the laboratory in orbit.
Cassidy, the commander of Expedition 63, and Behnken, who joined the crew on May 31 after arriving aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon with NASA astronaut Douglas Hurley on the SpaceX Demo-2 test flight from NASA will depart the Quest Lock for both spacewalks. The briefing will also include an update on the Crew Dragon’s mission to the orbital outpost.
Astronauts walking through space will replace the old nickel-hydrogen batteries with one of the two power channels in the station’s far starboard armor (S6 Truss) with new lithium-ion batteries that arrived at the station in a Japanese cargo ship last month. The battery replacement work is the culmination of the power upgrade spacewalks that started in January 2017.
Cassidy will be the extravehicular 1 crew member for both spacewalks, wearing the space suit with red stripes, while Behnken will be the extravehicular 2 crew member, wearing the non-striped space suit. It will be the seventh and eighth spacewalk for each astronaut. Spacewalks will be at 228 and 229 in support of the assembly, maintenance and upgrades of the space station.
For almost 20 years, humans have continuously lived and worked aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research advances not possible on Earth that will allow human and robotic exploration of long lasting in deep space. As a global effort, 239 people from 19 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 2,800 investigations by researchers from 108 countries and areas.
For more information about the International Space Station, its research, and its crew, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
Launch of SpaceX Starlink 10 @ 4:18 pm ET
SpaceX will launch its tenth batch of Starlink Internet satellites today, June 26th, and you can see it live here from about 4 pm EDT (2100 GMT).
A Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Starlink mission in 4:18 pm EDT (2118 GMT), with the SpaceX webcast starting about 15 minutes before takeoff. The mission transports 57 Starlink satellites and two BlackSky Global Earth observation satellites under a shared travel agreement with Spaceflight Inc.
The first stage booster for this flight is making its fourth trip into space. It was used to launch SpaceX’s unmanned Demo-1 Crew Dragon mission in 2019, three Radarsat satellites for Canada, and another Starlink mission earlier this year. The propeller is expected to land on SpaceX’s drone “Of course I still love you” in the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff.
SpaceX is targeting Friday, June 26 at 4:18 p.m. EDT, 8:18 p.m. UTC, for the launch of its tenth Starlink mission, which will include 57 Starlink satellites and 2 BlackSky satellites, a Spaceflight client. Falcon 9 will take off from launch complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The first stage of Falcon 9 previously supported Crew Dragon’s first demo mission to the International Space Station, the launch of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, and Starlink’s fourth and seventh missions. After the separation from the stage, SpaceX will land the first stage of Falcon 9 on the drone “Of Course I Still Love You”, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
You can watch the launch webcast here, starting about 15 minutes before takeoff. For updates on Starlink news and service availability in your area, visit starlink.com.
The BlackSky Global spacecraft will deploy sequentially starting 1 hour and 1 minute after takeoff, and Starlink satellites will deploy approximately 1 hour and 32 minutes after takeoff. Starlink satellites will be deployed in a circular orbit, as was done on the first to fourth Starlink missions. Additionally, all Starlink satellites on this flight are equipped with a fold-out visor to prevent sunlight from hitting the spacecraft’s brightest spots, a move SpaceX has taken as part of our work with major astronomical groups to mitigate the reflectivity of the satellites.
‘ISS Live!’ Tune into the space station
Find out what astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are doing by tuning into the “ISS Live” broadcast. Listen to conversations between the crew and mission controllers on Earth and watch them work within the US segment of the orbiting laboratory. When the crew is off duty, you can enjoy live views of Earth from space. You can look and listen in the window below, courtesy of NASA.
“The live video of the International Space Station includes internal views when the crew is on duty and views of Earth at other times. The video is accompanied by audio of conversations between the crew and Mission Control. This video is only available when the space station is in contact with the ground During periods of “signal loss”, viewers will see a blue screen.
“Since the station orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes, it experiences a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. When the station is in darkness, video from the external camera may appear black, but can sometimes provide views spectacular lightning or city lights below. ”
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