Two Russian cosmonauts will venture outside the International Space Station (ISS) today (Nov. 17), and you can watch the action live.
Sergey Prokopyev, who commands the station's current Expedition 68 mission, and Dmitri Petelin are scheduled to begin a spacewalk today at 9:20 a.m. EST (1420 GMT). You can watch live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, beginning at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT).
Prokopyev and Petelin will prepare an airlock and radiator for installation on Russia's Nauka module during their excursion, which is expected to last about seven hours, NASA officials wrote in a preview on Wednesday (Nov. 16).
Fellow cosmonaut Anna Kikina "will operate the European robotic arm from inside Nauka and assist the duo working in the microgravity environment in their Orlan spacesuits," agency officials added.
Related: The most memorable spacewalks of all time in pictures
Today's spacewalk follows closely on the heels of an American extravehicular activity (EVA) conducted Tuesday (Nov. 15) by NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio.
Cassada and Rubio spent about seven hours outside the station, preparing it for the installation of a set of ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays, or iROSAs, which will augment the orbiting lab's power supply.
Several more spacewalks are just around the corner: NASA has EVAs planned for Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, both of which are focused on iROSA installation as well.
Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.
