NASA to Discuss Upcoming Spacewalks for Station Repairs, Upgrades

NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station will conduct three spacewalks targeted for June. NASA will discuss the upcoming spacewalks during a news conference at 4 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 11.Live coverage will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.

Participants in the news conference include:

• Dina Contella, deputy program manager, International Space Station
• Rebecca Wingfield, flight director, spacewalk 90
• Nicole McElroy, flight director, spacewalk 91
• Sandy Fletcher, spacewalk officer, spacewalk 90
• Faruq Sabur, spacewalk officer, spacewalk 91 and 92

U.S. media interested in participating in person must contact the Johnson newsroom no later than 4 p.m. Monday, June 10, at: 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. To ask questions, media must dial in no later than 15 minutes before the start of the news conference. Questions also may be submitted on social media using #AskNASA.

For the first spacewalk, NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Matt Dominick will exit the station’s Quest airlock to complete the removal of a faulty electronics box, called a radio frequency group, from a communications antenna on the starboard truss of the space station. The pair also will collect samples for analysis to understand the ability of microorganisms to survive and reproduce on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory.

Dyson will serve as spacewalk crew member 1 and will wear a suit with red stripes. Dominick will serve as spacewalk crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit. U.S. spacewalk 90 will be the fourth for Dyson and the first for Dominick. NASA will announce participating crew members for U.S. spacewalks 91 and 92 following the completion of the first and will provide additional coverage details.

For the second spacewalk, astronauts will remove and replace the external high-definition camera located at camera port nine on the orbiting laboratory. This camera is one of several to provide external views of the space station. Additionally, crew members will complete a cable connection fit check for the alpha magnetic spectrometer, a particle physics experiment on the station’s exterior. If not completed during U.S. spacewalk 90, the astronauts will begin by collecting microorganism samples.

For the third spacewalk, crew members will remove and replace a rate gyro assembly, which provides data on the orientation of the space station. Astronauts will then attach a support bracket, called a modification kit, in preparation for future installation of the orbiting laboratory’s next International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array on the 2A power channel on the port truss.

Learn more about the space station, its research, and crew, at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

Josh Finch / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones / Anna Schneider
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov / anna.c.schneider@nasa.gov