NASA space walk WATCH LIVE: Astronauts venture out of ISS – LIVE WEBCAM

Expedition 54 flight engineers Mark Vande Hei of and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will venture outside of the International Space Station later today.
The two astronauts will venture into the cold abyss of space at around 7.10am EST (12.10pm GMT).

The space walk will be the 208th in support of the International Space Station’s assembly and maintenance programme and the third in 2018.

The two spacewalkers will move a Latching End Effector (LEE) or hand, for the Canadian-built robotic arm, Canadarm2, from its attachment on the station’s Mobile Base System rail car to the Quest airlock.

The space walk was originally scheduled for January 29, however, it was postponed when a new LEE, installed during the space walk, had startup issues.

NASA had originally rescheduled for February 15, but once again it was delayed because of the docking of the Russian Progress 69 cargo craft.

The American Space Agency said: “The space walk will be the 208th in support of space station assembly and maintenance and the third this year. 

WATCH LIVE WEBCAM FOOTAGE OF THE NASA SPACE WALK TODAY

“The space walk will be the fourth in Vande Hei’s career and the first for Kanai, who will become the fourth Japanese astronaut to walk in space. 

“Vande Hei will wear the suit bearing the red stripes and Kanai’s suit will have no stripes.”

The last Expedition 54 space walk took place on February 2 and lasted over eight hours and 13 minutes.

Today’s mission is expected to last around six hours and 30 minutes.