Two astronauts are set to take a spacewalk to begin Thursday around 8:05 a.m. ET. This will be the first of three spacewalks this month for maintenance at the International Space Station.
During the first spacewalk, NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei will replace one of two Latching End Effectors (LEE) on the station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2. A spare LEE is stored outside on the station’s truss.
Canadarm2 has two identical LEEs that are used to grapple visiting cargo vehicles and payloads, provide data and telemetry to the rest of the Canadian-built Mobile Base System and afford the unique capability to “walk” from one location on the station’s truss to another.