US astronauts take third ISS spacewalk

Two NASA astronauts have stepped out on their third spacewalk to prepare the International Space Station for the arrival of commercial capsules.

Two NASA astronauts have ventured out of the International Space Station in their third spacewalk in just over a week.

Terry Virts and Butch Wilmore went into space on Sunday morning with 122 metres of cable and two antennas to install. Once that's complete, the spacewalkers will have routed nearly 244 metres of power and data lines, all of it needed for future American crew capsules.

NASA is paying Boeing and SpaceX nearly $US7 billion ($A8.98 billion) to develop spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to the space station.

The first manned flight is targeted for 2017. New docking ports will fly up later this year.

Virts and Wilmore's first spacewalk was on February 21 and their second was on Wednesday. NASA hasn't conducted such quick spacewalks since its former shuttle days.


Share

1 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world