Abu Dhabi: US space agency NASA has released an animated video that shows how United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi will perform on his first spacewalk on Friday, April 28.
Sultan Al Neyadi, is due to venture outside the International Space Station (ISS) with NASA colleague Stephen Bowen on a six-and-a-half-hour maintenance mission.
On Monday night, NASA released an animated video detailing how the duo will perform the EVA (extravehicular activity).
They will begin their spacewalks around 5:15 pm GST and will be streamed live on NASA’s website, with Bowen referred to as ‘EV-1’ and Al Neyadi as ‘EV-2’.
“We’re super excited about the crew’s spacewalk,” said Dina Contella, Operations Integration Manager, International Space Station Programme.
“Steve Bowen — an extreme veteran. This will be his eighth spacewalk,” she adds.
“And also Sultan Al Neyadi. Excited about his first EVA and also the first for the UAE in general,” she added.
What would a spacewalk involve?
Al Neyadi and Bowen will perform many tasks during their 6.5 hours spacewalks.
Their first major task will be to restore the foot restraints that are scattered over various parts of the station’s exterior.
These restraints will be stored away or placed in other parts of the station so that astronauts can use them on future spacewalks.
They will also complete a series of preparatory tasks for the installation of solar panels, as these panels will be installed during a subsequent mission in June.
Al Neyadi will also retrieve an radio frequency unit that will eventually be sent back to Earth for repair.
