American astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio began their spacewalk, which they still could not perform yesterday, December 21, due to the risk of the International Space Station (ISS) colliding with space debris. Instead, yesterday, with the help of the engines of the transport ship “Progress MS-20”, a maneuver was carried out to protect the ISS from the wreckage of the Russian thruster stage. Today, December 22, NASA astronauts began their spacewalks at 8:19 a.m. ET.

During today’s broadcast, Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio plan to install the iROSA solar panel installation to increase power generation on the ISS. Electricity generation is expected to increase by about 30%, increasing the total usable capacity of the power plant from 160 kW to 215 kW. During the 7 hours of this ascent, the astronauts will install the fourth solar panel and there should be six of them, each panel weighing about 340 kg. Two batteries were deployed last year, and two more were brought in by the Dragon cargo ship in November of this year.