Two Russian cosmonauts will exit the International Space Station on Thursday to conduct an hours-long spacewalk outside the outpost.
Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, both cosmonauts with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, are set to complete routine maintenance and upgrades outside of the station, according to NASA. For Ovchinin, who will wear a spacesuit with red stripes, this will mark his second spacewalk, while it will be the first for Vagner, wearing a suit with blue stripes.
Both cosmonauts are members of the Soyuz MS-26 mission that also includes NASA astronaut Don Pettit, which arrived Sept. 11 at the orbital outpost.
NASA sets coverage of spacewalk: How to watch
NASA’s live coverage begins at 9:45 a.m. EST and is available to watch on NASA+.
The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at approximately 10:10 a.m. and last about six hours and 40 minutes.
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Roscosmos cosmonauts to do routine maintenance
Ovchinin and Vagner will venture outside the station’s Poisk module, which provides a port for the docking of Soyuz crew ships and cargo vehicles.
Once in the vacuum of space, the spacefarers will install an experiment package designed to monitor celestial x-ray sources and new electrical connector patch panels while removing several older experiments for disposal. The two cosmonauts also will relocate a control panel for the European robotic arm, which is attached to the…