NASA sets coverage spacewalks to carry out science research

The International Space Station is set to conduct science research along with station maintenance by two spacewalks featuring NASA first-time spacewalking astronauts.

NASA astronauts, both first-time spacewalkers, will participate in two forthcoming spacewalks outside the International Space Station to carry out science research and station maintenance.

On October 12^th and 20^th, NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara will take part in spacewalks with assistance from NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, respectively.

On Friday, October 6^th, at 1 p.m. EDT, agency specialists will give a preview of the spacewalks at a news conference from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

O'Hara and Mogensen will leave the station's Quest airlock on October 12 to gather samples for examination in an effort to determine whether microbes might be present on the orbiting complex's exterior.

O'Hara, who will be wearing a suit with red stripes, will be extravehicular activity (EVA) crew member 1. Mogensen, who will be wearing an unmarked suit, will be the second extravehicular crew member. The U.S. spacewalk 89 will mark both crew members' first spacewalk.

On October 20^th, O'Hara and Moghbeli will finish removing a malfunctioning radio frequency group from a communications antenna on the station's starboard truss and swap out one of the station's twelve trundle bearing assemblies at the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint on the port truss.