Everything you need to know about Tim Peake's spacewalk

British astronaut Tim Peake will carry out his first spacewalk today (Friday), as part of his work onboard the International Space Station.
Tim Peake will carry out his space walk today.Tim Peake will carry out his space walk today.
Tim Peake will carry out his space walk today.

Major Peake will walk alongside NASA astronaut Tim Kopra in the mission, which is expected to begin at around 12.55pm - and last for six hours.

The astronaut has assisted in a similar walk while onboard the ISS - but remained inside the craft. This will be his first time outside.

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Walks traditionally take place so maintenance can be carried out on spacecraft - and they usually last anywhere between five and eight hours.

In this case, the astronauts will work to repair a power unit outside the Station.

The International Space Station website said: "Expedition 46 flight engineers Tim Kopra of NASA and Tim Peake of ESA will venture outside the space station’s Quest airlock to replace a failed voltage regulator that compromised one of the station’s eight power channels last November.

"The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 7:55 a.m. EST and will be the third in Kopra’s career and the first for Peake, and the 192nd for maintenance of the space station.

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"It will be the 35th spacewalk using the US Quest airlock. Additional tasks include deploying cables for the future installation of an International Docking Adapter that will accommodate US commercial crew vehicles, and retrieving a broken light from a truss camera."

If you want to watch the action, tune into BBC2 from 9pm to watch Stargazing Live, hosted by Dara O'Briain and Professor Brian Cox. An additional programme has been planned, dedicated to the spacewalk.

Peake will spend six months on ISS. His mission began on December 15 last year.

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