Two members of the Expedition 36 crew are taking a 6-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station June 24.
The Russian flight engineers, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin, begin the spacewalk about 9:35 a.m. opening the hatch to the space station’s Pirs docking compartment and float outside.
Their mission is to “replace a fluid flow control panel on the station’s Zarya module and install clamps for future power cables as an early step toward swapping the Pirs airlock with a new multipurpose laboratory module,” according to a press release by NASA.
Russia’s space agency will launch a combination research facility, airlock, and docking port towards the end of the year.
This is Misurkin’s first space walk, or float, and number six for Yurchikhin. Misurkin’s space suit has blue stripes and Yurchikhin’s has red stripes.
In July, there will be two more spacewalks by NASA’s Chris Cassidy and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency.
