Two Russian cosmonauts are preparing to float outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk that NASA will broadcast live. The event, set for Thursday December 19, marks a rare moment when both space travelers exit the station together from the Russian segment.
A six hour mission outside the orbital lab
Cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner will leave the Poisk module at 10:10 a.m. EST. Their main task is to install a monoblock of the IKON antenna on the outside of the Zvezda service module. They also plan to remove a cassette of the SKK experiment, which collects materials exposed to the vacuum of space. NASA expects the spacewalk to last about six hours and 20 minutes.
Live coverage from mission control
NASA will begin its live coverage on NASA+ at 9:30 a.m. EST. The agency will also stream the event on its website and the NASA app. This will be the 272nd spacewalk in support of station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. It is the seventh spacewalk for Ovchinin and the second for Vagner.
Why this matters to the crew and ground teams
The space station orbits Earth at roughly 250 miles altitude, and every spacewalk carries real risk. For the cosmonauts, installing the antenna helps improve communications between the Russian segment and ground control. Removing the experiment cassette lets scientists study how materials degrade in space. For the people at Roscosmos and NASA who monitor these missions, each successful spacewalk keeps the station running and extends its life.
The two cosmonauts will work in silence except for radio contact with mission control in Moscow. Their suits, tools, and procedures have been checked and rechecked. When they close the hatch and repressurize the Poisk module, another routine but dangerous job in low Earth orbit will be complete.
