NASA Astronauts Wrap Up First Spacewalk of 2018

Expedition 54 Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Scott Tingle of NASA completed the first spacewalk this year at 2:13 p.m. EST, lasting 7 hours, 24 minutes. The two astronauts replaced a Latching End Effector (LEE) on the station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2.

There are two redundant end effectors on each end of the arm used to grapple visiting vehicles and components during a variety of operational activities. The spacewalk was the 206th in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the third in Vande Hei’s career and the first for Tingle. Vande Hei will venture outside the station again Jan. 29 with Flight Engineer Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to stow a spare latching end effector removed from the robotic arm last October on to the station’s mobile base system rail car for future use.

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Astronaut Joe Acaba (left) assists astronaut Scott Tingle during a fit check in his U.S. spacesuit.

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NASA astronauts ventured outside the confines of the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday to conduct the first spacewalk of the year.

Expedition 54 crewmembers Scott Tingle and Mark Vande Hei will spend about 6.5 hours outside of the ISS, working on the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2.