Briefing Set To Preview Two Spacewalks From Space Station

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Aug 07, 2012, 12:55 ET

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will preview a pair of spacewalks involving U.S., Russian and Japanese crew members aboard the International Space Station at 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 14. The briefing will be broadcast on NASA Television from the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston with media questions taken from other participating NASA locations.

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The briefers are:

-- Dina Contella, Expedition 32 lead flight director

-- Kieth Johnson, lead U.S. spacewalk officer

Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency have a combined 12 spacewalks between them. They are scheduled to venture outside the Pirs airlock Monday, Aug. 20, for a six-hour spacewalk. The duo will install debris shields on the Zvezda service module and move a telescoping cargo crane from Pirs to the Zarya module.

Flight Engineer Sunita Williams of NASA, a veteran of four spacewalks on a previous station mission, and Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are scheduled to conduct a 6 1/2-hour spacewalk Thursday, Aug. 30. The spacewalk will focus on replacing a faulty power routing unit on the station's truss and running cables for an upcoming Russian laboratory module. Hoshide's first spacewalk will be the third for Japanese astronauts. This spacewalk will be the first based from the Quest airlock since July 2011.

To participate in the briefings by telephone, media representatives must call the Johnson newsroom 15 minutes before each briefing. Priority will be given to journalists participating in person; questions by phone will be taken as time permits.

For NASA TV downlink information, up-to-date schedules and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

SOURCE NASA