A livestreamed spacewalk will take astronauts exterior the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) to exchange tools that helps visiting spacecraft dock. About 400km above Earth, the crew will work within the vacuum of area to maintain the orbiting laboratory working by means of the ultimate years.
The operation, titled US Spacewalk 98, might be broadcast on NASA’s social media channels tomorrow (25 August 2026). The spacewalk concludes a three-part August upkeep programme targeted on the station’s energy, communications and long-term operation. The duty consists of connecting power-channel cables and data-relay programs.
The August programme started with US Spacewalk 96. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon put in {hardware} to change the station’s 3B energy channel forward of a future ISS Roll-Out Photo voltaic Array (IROSA) set up. The seventh IROSA will provide extra energy for important operations through the station’s remaining years.
US Spacewalk 97 targeted on changing a Area-to-Floor antenna used to transmit information between the ISS and Mission Management in Houston. Though numbered 96, 97 and 98 within the US sequence, the operations are the 281st, 282nd and 283rd ISS spacewalks general.
The work helps ongoing upkeep, together with preparations for a future managed deorbit. The method will finally take the ISS out of orbit and information the laboratory by means of Earth’s ambiance in the direction of a selected re-entry space.
NASA plans to function the ISS by means of 2030 earlier than retiring the laboratory. Pure atmospheric drag will assist decrease the station throughout deorbit preparations. After the ultimate crew has returned to Earth, controllers will use a purpose-built car to focus on the re-entry over a distant, uninhabited ocean space.
Many of the station will deplete or vaporise throughout re-entry, however some dense or heat-resistant elements are anticipated to outlive. A managed descent is designed to direct surviving particles away from populated areas.
* Watch the livestream on NASA’s social media channels here.
