NASA’s Expedition 66 crew is all set for the first spacewalk of 2022 on Wednesday while the other crew members gear for the departure of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft (scheduled for Friday). Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, who are currently on the International Space Station, will conduct a spacewalk on Wednesday at 5:30 PM IST. Confirming the same, NASA tweeted, “Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov will conduct a spacewalk outside the @Space_Station on Wednesday, Jan. 19.”

Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov will conduct a spacewalk outside the @Space_Station on Wednesday, Jan. 19. Watch live starting at 6am ET (11:00 UTC): https://t.co/U7glvvJVfV pic.twitter.com/XvbrEtmHy4

— NASA (@NASA) January 19, 2022

Experienced Russian cosmonauts Shkaplerov and Dubrov, who have completed multiple spacewalks in the past, will be stepping out once again today to instal Nauka and Prichal modules on the space station to welcome Russian spacecraft in future. From installing new cameras to handrails and antennas, the two Russian cosmonauts are expected to complete these tasks in nearly seven hours, according to the NASA report.

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While Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev has gone on the record to clock nearly 82 hours in space, during his 16 spacewalks, two more Russians will be stepping out of the ISS today. Talking about spacewalks, NASA confirmed, “Additional spacewalks are planned this spring to outfit a European robotic arm on the Nauka laboratory and to activate Nauka’s airlock for future spacewalk activity.”

Meanwhile, on the other hand, NASA also shared an update on the SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft that is expected to undock on Friday. The report also cited Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Raja Chari beginning with the loading work with astronaut Thomas Marshburn also joining them to organise the cargo spacecraft. The cargo ship is expected to bring back many valuable scientific experiments performed in the microgravity environment.

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