NASA astronauts Robert Behnken, Chris Cassidy to carry out spacewalks outside ISS

NASA's astronaut Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken are all set to go outside the International Space Station on Friday, June 26, 2020, and on Wednesday, July 1, 2020. The astronauts will be heading out of the International Space Station for spacewalks in order to begin the replacement of batteries of one of the power channels which is currently orbiting laboratory. NASA's official television and website will be broadcasting live as Robert Behnken and Chris Cassidy head to spacewalk outside the ISS. NASA's official website also suggests that a news briefing discussing the spacewalk will also be held. 

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NASA astronauts to head out for a spacewalk

NASA has issued a public statement regarding the spacewalks which will include Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy. The official statement reads that the briefing for the spacewalk will be taking place at 2 PM EDT on June 24 at NASA's Johnson Space Centre through a virtual event. Those joining the briefing event for spacewalks can use the #AskNASA to clear any queries about the spacewalks.  Whereas, the coverage of the spacewalks will kick off at 6 AM EDT, during the day of each spacewalk. whereas, the spacewalking activity will  begin around 7:35 EDT, and shall last as long as seven hours.

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Chris Cassidy is the commander of Expedition 63, whereas Bob Behnken joined the International Space Station o May 31, 2020, after arriving aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon shuttle along with NASA's Douglas Hurley. Both Cassidy and Behnlen will depart the Quest airlock for both the scheduled spacewalks. The briefing scheduled before the spacewalks will also update about Crew Dragon's mission to the orbital outpost. 

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Image courtesy - NASA on Unsplash

During the spacewalks, astronauts will be replacing the washing nickel-hydrogen batteries for one of the two power channels on the S6 Truss of ISS. The nickel batteries will be replaced with newer lithium-ion based batteries which arrived at the International Space Station last month, as revealed by NASA. Chris Cassidy will be the extravehicular crew member 1 for both spacewalks, he will be wearing a spacesuit with a red stripe on it. Whereas, Bob Behnken will be the crew member 2 for the spacewalks wearing a spacesuit with no stripes on it. 

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