WATCH LIVE: Space Station Spacewalk

NASA has launched its webcast of Tuesday’s spacewalk at the International Space Station, where two American astronauts will continue critical repairs on cooling equipment. We’ll embed the video player in this post.

Part I of the repair work on Saturday was highlighted by the 5 1/2 hour spacewalk of astronauts Michael Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio. They’ll be doing the work again today. The goal: install a spare pump to replace the one they removed on Saturday.

It looks like the astronauts will be able to complete the work Tuesday — avoiding a possible third walk on Christmas Day.

NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel explained what’s going on in this post last week.

Update at 9:50 a.m. ET. Expected To Last More Than Six Hours:

The astronauts’ spacewalk officially began at 6:53 a.m. ET and is expected to last about 6 1/2 hours, NPR’s Joe Palca tells our Newscast Desk. That would push them past 1 p.m. ET.

Astronaut Mike Hopkins during Saturday's spacewalk. He's going out again Tuesday. Photo courtesy of NASA.gov
Astronaut Mike Hopkins during Saturday’s spacewalk. He’s going out again Tuesday. Photo courtesy of NASA.gov

He adds that the pump Hopkins and Mastracchio will replace “sends coolant through one of two independent refrigeration system the station needs to remove the heat generated by all the electrical equipment on board.”

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.image

Read original article- Published December 24, 2013 6:30 AM

WATCH LIVE: Space Station Spacewalk

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