Nasa said that the crew was ‘never in any immediate danger’ (Picture: Nasa)
A scheduled spacewalk by Nasa astronauts was postponed after a piece of Russian space junk got in the way.
On Wednesday, Nasa astronauts Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada were all set to head outside of the International Space Station (ISS) to upgrade the station’s power system.
That’s when tracking data showed a ‘close approach’ of a fragment of Russian ‘Fregat-SB upper stage debris’.
The planned spacewalk was postponed while the ISS decided to conduct a Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) to put some extra distance between the station and the predicted track of the debris.
Without the manoeuvre, it was estimated that the debris could have passed less than a quarter of a mile from the station.
Nasa said that the crew was ‘never in any immediate danger’ and with the manoeuvre successfully completed, the spacewalk did go ahead.
On Thursday, Nasa’s official Twitter account posted that the spacewalk was happening along with a link to the live stream of the spacewalk.
Viewers can watch Rubio (in the suit with red stripes) and Cassada (in an unmarked suit) install new ‘roll-out solar arrays’.
The spacewalk is expected to last seven hours, so space enthusiasts can still tune in.
Astronauts can burn up to 3,000 calories during a spacewalk.
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Nasa said that the crew was ‘never in any immediate danger’.
