NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren switched their spacesuits to battery power at 8:03 a.m. EDT, signifying the start of today’s planned 6-hour, 30-minute spacewalk. NASA Television is broadcasting the spacewalk at www.nasa.gov/nasatv.
Kelly is wearing a spacesuit with red stripes and is designated EV1. His helmet camera displays the number 18. Lindgren’s spacesuit is white without stripes; he is designated EV2. His helmet camera displays the number 17. This is the first spacewalk for both astronauts.
The first tasks for the astronauts will be to install a thermal cover over a dark matter detection experiment, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, and to remove a piece of thermal insulation from a power switching unit to facilitate its robotic replacement in the future.
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