NASA astronauts to replace faulty antenna system during Tuesday's spacewalk

Two NASA astronauts, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron, are gearing up for a spacewalk on Tuesday for station maintenance work. The duo, who arrived for a six-month science mission at the International Space Station on November 11, will conduct a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to replace a faulty antenna system outside the orbiting lab.

They will exit the orbiting lab tomorrow after setting their U.S. spacesuits to battery power at 7:10 a.m. EST, signifying the start of their spacewalk. Live coverage of the spacewalk will air on NASA Television, the agency's website, and the NASA app beginning Nov. 30 at 5:30 a.m. EST.

The duo will work at the Port 1 (P1) truss structure, where the communication antenna is mounted. According to NASA, the antenna recently lost its ability to send signals to Earth via the agency's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. Although its degradation has had a limited impact on station operations, mission managers decided to install a new antenna to ensure communications redundancy.

NASA astronaut Raja Chari and Mark Vande Hei will monitor the Marshburn and Barron during the spacewalk and help them in and out of their spacesuits. Additionally, astronaut Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency (ESA) will be at the controls of the Canadarm2 robotic arm assisting the spacewalkers at the Port-1 truss structure worksite.

The upcoming spacewalk will be the fifth for Marshburn, the first for Barron, and the 13th spacewalk on the space station this year. It will be the 245th spacewalk in support of the space station assembly.