{"id":336367,"date":"2026-03-18T22:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/336367\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T22:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:18:09","slug":"international-space-station-spacewalk-kicks-off-to-wire-up-the-stations-next-power-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/336367\/","title":{"rendered":"International Space Station spacewalk kicks off to wire up the station\u2019s next power upgrade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTwo NASA astronauts began preparations Wednesday for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station expected to last about six and a half hours as crews work to ready the orbiting lab for new solar arrays and future end-of-mission operations.WATCH live belowNASA said astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams will exit the station\u2019s Quest airlock to prepare the 2A power channel for the future installation of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, which are designed to provide additional power for the station.NASA is providing live coverage via the agency\u2019s YouTube channel below, and it said viewers can also find guidance on streaming NASA programming through their other online platforms, including social media.During the spacewalk, Meir is serving as spacewalk crew member 1, wearing a suit with red stripes. Williams is serving as crew member 2, wearing an unmarked suit, NASA said.The outing is Williams\u2019 first spacewalk and Meir\u2019s fourth, according to the agency. NASA said the additional power from the new arrays is expected to support station operations, including \u201ccritical support\u201d for its safe and controlled deorbit. DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Two NASA astronauts began preparations Wednesday for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station expected to last about six and a half hours as crews work to ready the orbiting lab for new solar arrays and future end-of-mission operations.<\/p>\n

WATCH live below<\/p>\n

NASA said astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams will exit the station\u2019s Quest airlock to prepare the 2A power channel for the future installation of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, which are designed to provide additional power for the station.<\/p>\n

NASA is providing live coverage via the agency\u2019s YouTube channel below, and it said viewers can also find guidance on streaming NASA programming through their other online platforms, including social media.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"NASA<\/p>\n

During the spacewalk, Meir is serving as spacewalk crew member 1, wearing a suit with red stripes. Williams is serving as crew member 2, wearing an unmarked suit, NASA said.<\/p>\n

The outing is Williams\u2019 first spacewalk and Meir\u2019s fourth, according to the agency. NASA said the additional power from the new arrays is expected to support station operations, including \u201ccritical support\u201d for its safe and controlled deorbit. <\/p>\n

\n\tThis content is imported from YouTube.
\n\tYou may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.\n<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Google<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two NASA astronauts began preparations Wednesday for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station expected to last about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[180194,3041,108014,156,149223,180196,6394,180193,50025,180192,111,139,69,147,392,24323,180195,13655,6271,4998],"class_list":["post-336367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-additional-power","tag-agency","tag-chris-williams","tag-entertainment","tag-gulf-coast-news-app","tag-international-space-station-spacewalk","tag-late-news","tag-meir","tag-nasa-astronaut","tag-new-solar-array","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space","tag-spacewalk","tag-spacewalk-crew-member","tag-station","tag-suit","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}