Updated Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. EST:
"NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts ended their spacewalk at 2:26 p.m. EST with the repressurization of the Quest airlock. Wilmore and Virts completed all the scheduled tasks for today and one get ahead task. They rigged a series of power and data cables at the forward end of the Harmony module and Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 and routed 340 of 360 feet of cable. The cable routing work is part of a reconfiguration of station systems and modules to accommodate the delivery of new docking adapters that commercial crew vehicles will use later this decade to deliver astronauts to the orbital laboratory.
"The 6-hour, 41-minute spacewalk was the first for Virts. Wilmore now has spent 13 hours and 15 minutes in the void of space during two spacewalks. The spacewalk began this morning at 7:45 a.m. Astronauts have now spent a total of 1,159 hours and 8 minutes conducting space station assembly and maintenance during 185 spacewalks.
"The duo will venture outside the space station again on Wednesday, Feb. 25, to deploy two more cables and lubricate the end of the space station's robotic arm. NASA TV coverage will begin at 6 a.m. Wednesday ahead of a planned 7:10 a.m. start time for the spacewalk."
Two American astronauts aboard the International Space Station will take part in three spacewalks in the upcoming week: Saturday, Feb. 21; Wednesday, Feb. 25; and Sunday, March 1, according to a press release from NASA. The astronauts have been preparing for their trips into space and preparing for construction of two new docking ports that was accommodate the commercial spacecrafts leaving from Florida that will be visiting ISS starting in 2017.
You can view a preview of the spacewalks here:
The spacewalks will be conducted by NASA's Expedition 42 Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts. (Saturday will be Virts' first spacewalk). The first two scheduled walks were originally planned for Friday and Tuesday, but the dates were moved back "because of added analysis of spacesuits they will wear," according to the press release.
NASA Television will air all three spacewalks starting at 6 a.m. EST each of the planned dates. The spacewalks are scheduled to take place at 7:10 a.m. EST each day.
You can view the live stream here:
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
NASA has contracted Boeing to build the International Docking Adapters, which will not only provide long-term docking for visiting spacecrafts, but will also allow for standard station crew size to increase from six to seven members.
Later this year, Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 and Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 will travel to ISS on a pair of SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecrafts and will be attached during future spacewalks.
Currently, European Space Agency has discontinued the use of their Automated Transfer Vehicles when their plan ATV-5 to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean was complete. Their supply missions are not over yet, as Russia and Japan's cargo spacecrafts are still active. According to NASA's launch schedule, Russia's Progress 59 Cargo ship is scheduled to launch on April 28.
