NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins will complete their second, and last, space walk to finish repairing the cooling system on the International Space Station on Tuesday, according to a NASA official, Reuters reported.
The astronauts, both Expedition 38 crew members, will leave the station's Quest airlock in order to finishing installing a new pump needed to make sure ammonia is being properly radiated into space, Station Flight Director Judd Frieling said during a NASA interview on Monday, according to Reuters.
The broken cooling system is one of two on the ISS, and broke down on Dec. 11 because of an issue with a faulty valve, Reuters reported.
Both astronauts successfully finished half of the process on Saturday and if no issues arise the second space walk will take place on Tuesday with no need of a third spacewalk as previously planned, according to the AP.
"It's apparent now that we'll be able to get most of our critical objectives done tomorrow (Tuesday)," Frieling said during the interview, Reuters reported. The second spacewalk was initially scheduled for Monday, but an issue unrelated to suit malfunction delayed the walk.
Saturday's space walk was the first since July when Luca Parmitano, an Italian astronaut, almost drowned due to his spacesuit malfunctioning and filling the helmet with water, Reuters reported.
The decision for the astronauts to begin the spacewalks was due to the lack of time before the sun's position caused problems for the ISS with only one functioning cooling system, according to Reuters.
In a scene seemingly pulled from "Gravity," NASA managers sent the two astronauts out into space to replace the broken pump with one of the cooling systems stored outside the space station, 250 miles above earth, according to Reuters.
Before the walk, both astronaut's space suits were inspected and adjusted as a precaution, Reuters reported. Mastracchio and Hopkins were also given pads to place in their helmets, as well as a snorkel, in case the helmet malfunctions, but Frieling said that "the suits worked as expected," according to Reuters.
