Spacewalking around the world
01 August 2006
Have you ever thought about going on a voyage around the world? This is what ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter will be doing on 3 August. But Reiter will not be on any ordinary sightseeing trip. For about 6½ hours, he will be floating outside the International Space Station (ISS), 360 km above the Earth. Travelling at a speed of 25,000 km, he will fly right around the planet in only 92 minutes.
Unfortunately, German-born Reiter and his American partner, Jeff Williams, will have little time to enjoy the view. During their spacewalk (officially known as ‘extra-vehicular activity’ or EVA), the two men will have plenty to do.
After they leave the airlock, the astronauts will set up an instrument to monitor the build-up of electrical charge and install two experiments outside the ISS. During the second half of the spacewalk, they will set up an infrared camera and prepare for future ISS assembly work.
The first of two spacewalks planned for the ISS Expedition 13 mission will take place between 15:55 and 22:15 CEST. The men will wear US spacesuits. Reiter’s will be plain white and Williams’ will have red stripes.
The entire spacewalk will be shown live on the internet. ESA and the German Aerospace Agency (DLR) will provide up-to-the-minute coverage through an online ‘blog’ diary (in English and German).
The blogs will begin on 2 August at these addresses:
http://www.esa.int/evablog_en (English)
http://www.esa.int/evablog_de (German)
NASA TV will also be covering the event live:
