NASA has planned a spacewalk for astronauts on International Space Station (ISS) to replace failed data relay box outside space station. NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Shane Kimbrough had installed this multiplexer/demultiplexer (MDM) device on March 30 during her spacewalk. Shane Kimbrough, then-flight engineer, has now returned to Earth. Tuesday’s spacewalk repair will be accomplished by Whitson and astronaut Jack Fischer, and replacing the failed device will allow restoring critical redundancy to the ISS. The spacewalk will start at 1200 GMT, and people can watch NASA’s live webcast coverage starting at 1030 GMT.
There are two MDM devices installed outside ISS, and their job is to control exterior systems like solar arrays, radiators, cooling loops, radiators, etc. The MDM that was upgrade in March failed on May 20th.
According to NASA, the cause of this failure is not known yet.
After the failure, the space MDM started functioning, although NASA wants to replace the failed unit as earliest as possible.
According to NASA spokesman Dan Huot, the failure of MDM device will not have any impact on launch of SpaceX Dragon cargo ship to ISS scheduled for next week.
On Sunday, Whitson spent her day assembling the new MDM, measuring 10.5 x 14.9 x 16.4 inches and this is the unit that will be installed by astronauts on Tuesday.
The last spacewalk by astronauts on board was conducted by Fischer and Whitson on May 12.
Apart from these two astronauts, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and two Russian cosmonauts are also present on ISS.
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