Anil Menon to spacewalk with Sophie Adenot to replace antenna
Indian-origin astronaut Anil Menon, who has Indian roots, is gearing up for a big moment, a spacewalk on August 18.
He'll be out there with ESA's Sophie Adenot for about six and one-half hours, working to replace a high-speed data and communications antenna that keeps the International Space Station (ISS) connected with Mission Control in Houston.
Adenot to be 1st French spacewalker
NASA will stream the whole thing live, starting at 4:30pm IST (actual spacewalk kicks off at 6:05pm IST).
Menon and Adenot have been prepping hard, testing spacesuits and practicing outside tasks.
Their main job is to swap out the broken antenna on the ISS's Z1 truss.
It'll be Menon's second spacewalk and Adenot's first, making her the first French woman ever to do this.
NASA teammates Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir will help out from inside, with Hathaway handling the robotic arm.