NASA, UAE Astronauts Prep Ahead Of Spacewalk This Friday

Two crew members of Expedition 69 are preparing for a spacewalk on Friday.

What Happened: Astronauts Stephen Bowen and Sultan Alneyadi‘s spacewalk is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. EDT on April 28, NASA said in a statement. Bowen and Alneyadi will spend six and a half hours in space in their spacesuits to continue hardware installation at the Space station for future power system upgrades.

While NASA’s Bowen will don a suit with red stripes for his eighth spacewalk, Alneyadi will wear an unmarked suit. The Friday spacewalk will be a first for Alneyadi or any UAE astronaut.

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NASA Flight Engineers Woody Hoburg and Frank Rubio will monitor the spacewalk and help the astronauts with their spacesuits.

Though Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin were expected to go on a spacewalk on Tuesday, it was postponed until early May.

Why It Matters: Expedition 69 commenced in March 2023 and includes seven crew members.

The mission involves research on biology, Earth science, human research, and technology development, among others. NASA expects the research to provide the foundation for future human spaceflight to Moon and Mars.

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