List of International Space Station Spacewalks

List Of International Space Station Spacewalks

International Space Station spacewalks are major events in the building and maintaining of the orbital laboratory. Spacewalks are performed to install new components to the International Space Station (ISS), to re-wire systems, modules, and equipment, and to monitor, install, and retrieve scientific experiments.

Due to the complexity of building a station in space, space agencies train astronauts extensively, preparing them to encounter surprises during spacewalks, teaching them how to assemble special tools and equipment, and carefully coordinating every activity during spacewalks. From 1998 to 2005, thirty-seven space shuttle missions were scheduled to assemble, outfit and begin experiments and research aboard the station.

The initial spacewalk to begin the assembly of the International Space Station was held on December 7, 1998, following the launch of the first section of the station, Zarya, from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on November 20, 1998. The spacewalk attached the U.S.-built Unity node to Zarya. The longest spacewalk was performed on March 11, 2001, when STS-102 crew members Susan J. Helms and James S. Voss conducted a full spacewalk, and then returned to the airlock, but remained in their suits ready to exit the airlock again in case the robotics operations ran into problems. The total time for that spacewalk was eight hours and fifty-six minutes.

As of March 2, 2011, there have been 155 spacewalks devoted to assembly and maintenance of the International Space Station. A total time of 973 hours and fifty-three minutes has been spent in extra-vehicular activity (EVA), with 127 of these EVAs performed from station airlocks, totaling 787 hours and twenty-eight minutes in spacewalk time from the station itself. Twenty-eight spacewalks have been performed from a shuttle, ninety-three from the Quest Joint Airlock, thirty-two from the Pirs docking compartment, and two from the transfer compartment at the forward end of the Zvezda Service Module.

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