(Updated) First spacewalk of 2022 to begin next week: Details Inside

The duo will spend about seven hours configuring both the Prichal docking module and the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module in the vacuum of space. NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei will assist them during the spacewalk.

The first spacewalk of 2022 will begin at the International Space Station (ISS) on January 19 at 7 a.m. EDT. Expedition 66 crew members, station Commander Anton Shkaplerov and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov, will exit the Poisk module in their Russian Orlan spacesuits to configure the station's two newest modules for future Russian visiting spacecraft.

The duo will spend about seven hours configuring both the Prichal docking module and the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module in the vacuum of space. NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei will assist them during the spacewalk.

Earlier this week, the two cosmonauts configured a pair of Russian Orlan spacesuits that will be worn in the vacuum of space when they configure the station's two newest modules. Live coverage of the Russian spacewalk will air on NASA Television, the agency's website, and the NASA app at 6 a.m.

During the upcoming spacewalk, the cosmonauts will install handrails, rendezvous antennas, a television camera, and docking targets on Prichal, which automatically docked to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module in November.

Meanwhile, the station’s other crew members are focused on space physics, life science and lab maintenance while the SpaceX Cargo Dragon vehicle is gearing up for its departure on January 21. The spacecraft arrived at the space station with over 6,500 pounds of new science experiments, crew supplies, and station hardware on December 22 and since then it has been docked to the Harmony module's space-facing docking port.

The Exp 66 crew is getting ready for the first spacewalk of 2022 while working on space physics, life science and lab maintenance.https://t.co/JGsOyKVdkq

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) January 12, 2022

The January 19 spacewalk will be the third spacewalk in Shkaplerov's career and the fourth for Dubrov. Additional spacewalks are planned for this spring, NASA said on Thursday.