A complex choreography

During a spacewalk scheduled for 27 January 2021, the fridge-sized Columbus Ka-band antenna (ColKa), will be installed on the outside of ESA’s Columbus Laboratory, providing a direct link with Europe at home broadband speeds. Astronauts will also route power and data cables, to enable a new platform called Bartolomeo to host commercial research and experiments outside the Space Station’s outer shell. 

ColKa is part of the European Data Relay System. It complements connectivity provided by a US satellite communications system and will enable Earth-based researchers to access their experiments in real time when in range.

A second European facility to be connected on the spacewalk is Bartolomeo. This provides a similar service to ESA’s International Commercial Experiments (ICE Cubes) inside Columbus, except the platform is external – offering commercial payloads direct access to space.

While the spacewalk itself will be carried out by NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover, a whole team of Europeans is preparing to support operations from the ground. For the first time ever, this includes two Columbus flight directors and three Columbus Systems, Data Management and Communications (STRATOS) engineers at ESA’s Columbus Control Centre (Col-CC) in Oberpfaffenhofen Germany, as well as ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen via radio from NASA’s Mission Control Centre in the USA.

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen runs through ColKa installation in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in 2018. NASA EVA NBL

One of these Columbus flight directors is Daniele Marocco, who joked that the team at Col-CC has been polishing their consoles in preparation for the big day.

In reality, it is all hands to the pump as they prepare to monitor and control the Columbus onboard system as part of a complex choreography. Safety will be a top priority as the two European-designed and built facilities are brought online in space.

Columbus flight directors are responsible for all European activities on the International Space Station and their coordination, while STRATOS monitor, configure and command the systems that keep Europe’s Columbus laboratory operational to support science in microgravity.

On Wednesday, all five assigned to the spacewalk will work under the overall authority of NASA Houston Flight Control Team operating from Mission Control Centre in Houston, and remain in close communication with engineering support centres Europe-wide.

Clockwise from top: the US Destiny lab, Japanese Kibo module and the European Columbus lab on the International Space Station. ESA/NASA-L.Parmitano.

Astronauts Mike and Victor are expected to exit the airlock at around 13:05 CET (12:05 GMT) and spend around six and a half hours outside the Space Station. Mike will wear the spacesuit with red stripes as crew member one and Victor will wear the spacesuit with no stripes as crew member two.

The pair will be assisted by fellow NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi who will operate the Canadarm2 robotic arm from inside the Station. 

Live coverage of the full spacewalk starts at 11:30 CET (10:30 GMT) on NASA TV.

Indicative timeline of spacewalk tasks for 27 January: 

For more fun facts about spacewalking, listen to episode five of podcast ESA Explores. In this episode of the Beyond series, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and ESA astronaut trainer Hervé Stevenin talk us through planning, preparation and the big day itself. Search ESA Explores to listen via your favourite podcast platform including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Overcast and more.