NASA Briefing Thursday Will Preview Upcoming US Spacewalks

NASA News Releases <hqnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> · Tue, 16 Jan 2018 22:05:32 +0000 (UTC)

January 16, 2018 
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-013
NASA Briefing Thursday Will Preview Upcoming US Spacewalks

American and Japanese astronauts aboard the International Space Station will embark on a pair of spacewalks Jan. 23 and 29 to service the station’s robotic arm. Experts from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will preview this work in a briefing at 2 p.m. EST Thursday, Jan. 18, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Live coverage of the briefing and spacewalks will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Participants in the briefing are:

Kenneth Todd, NASA’s International Space Station Operations integration manager
	Tim Braithwaite, CSA liaison office manager
	Zeb Scoville, NASA spacewalk flight director
	Sarah Korona, U.S. spacewalk 47 and 48 officer at NASA

Media wishing to participate in the briefing in person must request credentials from the Johnson newsroom no later than 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17. Media interested in participating by phone must contact the newsroom by 1:45 p.m. Jan. 18.

Expedition 54 Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei of NASA will lead both excursions, joined by Flight Engineer Scott Tingle for the spacewalk on Tuesday, Jan. 23, and by Flight Engineer Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Monday, Jan. 29. Live coverage will begin at 5:30 a.m., with the spacewalks beginning about 7:10 a.m. or earlier, if the crew is running ahead of schedule.

The objective of the Jan. 23 spacewalk will be to replace one of two redundant latching end effectors (LEE) on Canadarm2, the station’s robotic arm, which has experienced some degradation of its snaring cables. A spare LEE will replace the current LEE B. The Jan. 29 spacewalk will be devoted to securing the degraded LEE B on the station’s Mobile Base System rail car as a spare. Similar work was conducted on the robotic arm’s LEE A during a series of spacewalks last October.

These excursions, U.S. spacewalks 47 and 48, will be the third and fourth in Vande Hei’s career and the first for both Tingle and Kanai.

-end-

Press Contacts

Stephanie Schierholz

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1100

stephanie.schierholz@xxxxxxxx

Gary Jordan

Johnson Space Center, Houston

281-483-5111

gary.j.jordan@xxxxxxxx

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	January 16, 2018 MEDIA ADVISORY M18-013 NASA Briefing Thursday Will Preview Upcoming US Spacewalks American and Japanese astronauts aboard the International Space Station will embark on a pair of spacewalks Jan. 23 and 29 to service the station’s robotic arm. Experts from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will preview this work in a briefing at 2 p.m. EST Thursday, Jan. 18, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Live coverage of the briefing and spacewalks will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website. Participants in the briefing are: Kenneth Todd, NASA’s International Space Station Operations integration manager Tim Braithwaite, CSA liaison office manager Zeb Scoville, NASA spacewalk flight director Sarah Korona, U.S. spacewalk 47 and 48 officer at NASA Media wishing to participate in the briefing in person must request credentials from the Johnson newsroom no later than 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17. Media interested in participating by phone must contact the newsroom by 1:45 p.m. Jan. 18. Expedition 54 Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei of NASA will lead both excursions, joined by Flight Engineer Scott Tingle for the spacewalk on Tuesday, Jan. 23, and by Flight Engineer Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Monday, Jan. 29. Live coverage will begin at 5:30 a.m., with the spacewalks beginning about 7:10 a.m. or earlier, if the crew is running ahead of schedule. The objective of the Jan. 23 spacewalk will be to replace one of two redundant latching end effectors (LEE) on Canadarm2, the station’s robotic arm, which has experienced some degradation of its snaring cables. A spare LEE will replace the current LEE B. The Jan. 29 spacewalk will be devoted to securing the degraded LEE B on the station’s Mobile Base System rail car as a spare. Similar work was conducted on the robotic arm’s LEE A during a series of spacewalks last October. These excursions, U.S. spacewalks 47 and 48, will be the third and fourth in Vande Hei’s career and the first for both Tingle and Kanai. -end-
	Press Contacts Stephanie Schierholz Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 stephanie.schierholz@xxxxxxxx Gary Jordan Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 gary.j.jordan@xxxxxxxx
	NASA news releases and other information are available automatically by sending an e-mail message with the subject line subscribe to hqnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe from the list, send an e-mail message with the subject line unsubscribe to hqnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.