(Update: Postponed) NASA, JAXA astronauts gear up for Tuesday's spacewalk

Flight Engineers Megan McArthur of NASA and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) will assist the spacewalkers for the planned six-hour and 50-minute excursion.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are gearing up for a spacewalk on Tuesday, August 24th. The duo will exit the U.S. Quest airlock to prepare the International Space Station (ISS) for its third Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA).

The spacewalkers will install a support bracket, called a modification kit, on the inward port side of the space station's backbone truss structure in a position called Port-4 (P4). The kit prepares the site for future installation and deployment of the third of six new solar arrays to upgrade one of the station's eight power channels known as 4A, which provides partial power to the U.S. Laboratory, the Harmony module, and the Columbus module.

Flight Engineers Megan McArthur of NASA and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) will assist the spacewalkers for the planned six-hour and 50-minute excursion.

The upcoming spacewalk follows three other recent ones to install the first pair of new iROSA arrays. On June 16, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet of ESA moved the first to a mounting bracket on the 2B power channel on the port 6 truss, where it was secured in its folded configuration. On June 20, the duo returned to the 2B power channel to complete installation and deployment. The pair completed the installation and deployment of the second of the six new arrays during another spacewalk on June 25.

Vande Hei and Hoshide will set their U.S. spacesuits to battery power on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. EDT signifying the start of their spacewalk. Live coverage of the event will air on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency's official website at 7 a.m. NASA TV will also broadcast a briefing on Monday at 2 p.m. discussing Tuesday's spacewalk activities.

Update: The spacewalk planned for Tuesday, August 24, has been postponed due to a minor medical issue involving Vande Hei, NASA said on Monday.

"This issue is not a medical emergency. The spacewalk is not time-sensitive and crew members are continuing to move forward with other station work and activities. Teams are assessing the next available opportunity to conduct the spacewalk following the SpaceX CRS-23 cargo resupply launch planned for Aug. 28 and upcoming Russian spacewalks," NASA wrote in a blog post.