Washington. November 13. INTERFAX - NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron will go into outer space from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, November 30 to replace a non-working antenna on one of the truss structures of the station, according to the NASA website.
"NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron will exit the Quest gateway around 7:10 (15:10 Moscow time) on the East Coast of the United States to replace the antenna providing communication in the S-band with the same antenna located on one of the truss structures of the station," NASA said in a statement.
According to the plan, the spacewalk will last about six and a half hours, during which the astronauts will work at the P1 truss, where the antenna is installed. They will be assisted by European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer, who will control the Canadarm-2 robotic arm from inside the station.
NASA notes that although the antenna has stopped transmitting signals to Earth using the Satellite Object Tracking and Data Transmission System (TDRSS), the failure does not significantly affect the operation of the station. For full confidence in the sufficiency of communication at the station, the space administration decided to replace the non-functioning antenna.