U.S. Astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren prepare for spacewalk

Oct 27, 2015 NASA flight directors and officers recently gathered for a televised briefing ahead of the upcoming spacewalks by two U.S astronauts.

Astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren will perform two spacewalks outside of the International Space Station, where they currently reside.

Speaking at the briefing, Mike Lammers, expedition 45 lead flight director said:

“So first let’s, again, introduce our space walkers. For both EVA’s Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren from NASA will be our EV crew and then from the Japanese space agency, Kimiya Yui is going to be the IV crew member, who actually has a very important role in the time leading up to before the crew goes out the door. Kimiya will be orchestrating suiting them up in the pre-brief protocol that we do to get them ready to go EVA in the environment of the suit.”

The first spacewalk will focus on station upgrades and maintenance tasks, including installing a thermal cover on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

Grant Slusser, 32 lead spacewalk officer, said:

“So I did bring a BLT or Ball Screw Lubricating tool with me. We’re going to actually entrap it (indiscernible), put grease on it and then Scott will take it out and insert it into the latches for lubrication. So it is a probe with a couple of wire tied cradles added to it for strength. “

The second spacewalk will attempt to restore the port truss ammonia cooling system to its original configuration. It will also mark the 15th anniversary of continued human presence on the space station.