First British Spacewalk

Tim Peake, together with Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra, will carry out spacewalk on 15 January to replace a damaged voltage regulator.

20:46 06 January 2016

Tim Peake is to carry out the first ever spacewalk by a British astronaut. On 15 January, he and Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra will go outside the International Space Station (ISS) to replace a failed voltage regulator.

 

This marks the second spacewalk for Mr Kopra, who has flown into space once before in 2009. The duo will don their spacesuits and exit the US Quest airlock to replace a Sequential Shunt Unit (SSU), an electrical box that regulates voltage from the station’s solar arrays. It failed on 13 November 2015 leaving one of the station’s power channels compromised.

 

The task is relatively easy as the duo can remove the unit by simply undoing one bolt. They will then deploy cables in advance of new docking ports for US commercial crew vehicles. They will also reinstall a valve that was removed for the relocation of the station’s Leonardo module last year. The spacewalk is expected to last for six-and-a-half-hours and is scheduled to start at 12:55 GMT.

 

Mr Peake and Mr Kopra arrived together at the ISS on 15 December and have closely trained closely with each other.