After a long hiatus due to a faulty spacesuit, NASA plans a spacewalk aboard the International Space Station

Two spacewalks are scheduled this month to serve science experiments associated with the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) — the first time NASA astronauts have prepared to exit the orbiting laboratory since a series of water leaks halted extravehicular activities.

After the long hiatus, NASA is scheduled to resume spacewalk operations, with four astronauts preparing for two separate missions outside the International Space Station on January 16 and 23, the space agency said. Announce In this week’s blog post. NASA astronauts will exit the space station for the first time in nearly seven months after faulty spacesuits previously put crew members in danger. The Russian crews were not affected, as two astronauts worked outside the station last December.

NASA has stopped spacewalking yet A terrifying spacesuit leak has forced the space agency to halt all extravehicular activities. In June 2024, two NASA astronauts were preparing to exit the International Space Station for a spacewalk when… It was suddenly canceled due to a water leak In the secret service and cooling module on astronaut Tracy Dyson’s suit. “There’s water everywhere,” Dyson can be heard saying during the live broadcast from the International Space Station.

After a few months, NASA announced that it had solved the problem By replacing the seal and umbilical cord connecting the spacesuit to the International Space Station and repressurizing the leaking spacesuit.

NASA astronauts Sonny Williams and Nick Hague will be the first astronauts to exit the International Space Station on January 16 at 7 a.m. ET to replace a modified gyro array and service the NICER X-ray Telescope, an X-ray observatory that studies neutron stars. Black holes and other phenomena as they attach to the outside of the International Space Station. The pair will also prepare the Alpha Magnetometer, a particle physics experimental module mounted on the International Space Station, for future upgrades.

Another pair of astronauts, Don Pettit and Butch Wilmore, will perform their second spacewalk on January 23. Williams and Willmore blasted off to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft in June 2024. Stuck waiting in low Earth orbit to get home. The astronauts are scheduled to do this Back to Earth in March On board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

NASA’s spacesuits are in desperate need of an upgrade. The suits worn by astronauts outside the International Space Station are more than 40 years old and nearing the end of their lifeline. NASA’s Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs) were first designed in the 1970s for the Space Shuttle program. Spacesuits haven’t had the best track record in the last few years. In May 2022, NASA has suspended spacewalks outside the International Space Station After a series of incidents of life-threatening water leaking into astronauts’ helmets while they were walking in space. Earlier in 2013, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano He noticed a water leak inside his helmet, forcing him to abruptly end the spacewalk.

NASA has turned to its commercial partners to develop new space suits. Contract delivery to Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace in June 2022 With a total value of $3.5 billion. Hopefully the spacesuits will hold together for upcoming spacewalks as NASA prepares its new suit lineup.