The NASA international space station is all set to be equipped with an international docking adapter this Friday and according to reports, two astronauts, Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins, are going to take care of the process. NASA is going to live stream the whole thing as well. According to a report in the website, The Verge, "The IDA is a key element of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. That's the initiative in which private companies create "space taxis" for NASA, to ferry the agency's astronauts to and from the space station. For the program, SpaceX is building a crewed version of its Dragon cargo capsule, called Crew Dragon, and Boeing is building a brand-new crew capsule called the CST-100 Starliner. Those spacecraft are slated to carry astronauts to the ISS for the first time in late 2017 and early 2018, respectively. And when they arrive at the station, they'll dock with the IDA"
The report went on to add, "Then on Friday, the astronauts will get started on the installation bright and early. At around 8:05AM ET, Rubins and Williams will exit the ISS and go through the complex process of hooking up the the IDA to its port. Fortunately, lots of preparations have already been made to help the installation run smoothly. In four previous spacewalks, astronauts positioned all the necessary cables that Rubins and Williams will attach to the docking adapter to give it power and connectivity. Additionally, the two astronauts will have help from Takuya Onishi of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, who will remain inside the ISS during the spacewalk. After helping them to suit up, Onishi will manage a control panel inside the station that will help to physically connect the IDA to its port." The installation was scheduled to take place last year but had to be delayed since the rocket, Falcon 9, in which it was being carried was destroying during its launch. It is hoped that the installation would be successful this time.
