WASHINGTON: Tim Peake is set to carry out the first ever spacewalk by an “official” British astronaut.
Major Peake and Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra are scheduled to step outside the International Space Station at 12:55 GMT.
They will replace a faulty component on the station’s exterior, which has compromised a power channel on the outpost. Michael Foale became the first Briton to carry out a spacewalk in 1995.
He flew under a US banner with Nasa.”I think a spacewalk is absolutely the pinnacle of an astronaut’s career,” Major Peake told BBC Stargazing Live this week.
“We’ve put a huge amount of effort into this spacewalk. It’s hugely exciting and we’re ready to go.” The six-and-a-half hour extra-vehicular activity (EVA) – the technical term for a spacewalk – will see the two Tims replace a failed electrical box which regulates power from the solar panels.
They will have to make their way across half the length of the space station, travelling roughly 50m – equivalent to an Olympic-sized swimming pool – while holding on to the exterior with their arms.
Colonel Kopra will head out first; laying down anchor points along the exterior. The US astronaut will give a “Go” signal. Major Peake will then follow his colleague, carrying the replacement box.
The failed electrical component – known as a Sequential Shunt Unit (SSU) – is relatively straightforward to swap out: it involves undoing just one bolt. But the ISS takes 90 minutes to orbit the Earth, so the astronauts experience 45 minutes of daylight followed by 45 minutes of total darkness.
Peake and Kopra can only work on the SSU in darkness, because in daylight, there could be a current running through the box.
