Two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) will exit the Quest airlock this Friday, January 20, to attach new hardware to the station’s exterior.
Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will be the two astronauts participating in the spacewalk, which will be their first joint spacewalk. They will be engaged in the ongoing task of modernising the power system of the space station, which entails putting in fresh solar arrays known as iROSAs. Four of the six iROSAs have been put in place as of this writing.
However, Mann and Wakata will be constructing two mounting platforms rather than solar arrays this time, which will be used for array installation in the future.
The team will start erecting a mounting platform on the 1A power channel and finish the installation of a mounting platform on the 1B power channel, according to NASA.
Mann will be wearing an unmarked white suit, while Wakata will be donning a white suit with red stripes, if you’re wondering which astronaut is which while viewing the spacewalk.