ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer shares a statement on his first spacewalk he is scheduled to perform on Wednesday 23 March 2022 alongside NASA astronaut Raja Chari.

The spacewalk known as US EVA 80 will see the pair stepping outside the International Space and spend approximately six and a half hours working in space. Matthias will be EV-2, wearing an all-white spacesuit, while Raja will be lead spacewalker, known as EV-1, in a white spacesuit with red stripes.

Their tasks include installing hoses on a radiator beam valve module that routes ammonia through the Station’s heat-rejecting radiators to regulate system temperatures, installing a power and data cable on the Bartolomeo science platform outside ESA’s Columbus module, replacing an external camera on the Station’s truss, and conducting other upgrades to Station hardware.

Matthias will live and work in orbit for approximately six months for his Cosmic Kiss mission. During this time, he will conduct and support more than 35 European and numerous other international experiments in microgravity.

Learn more about Matthias and his Cosmic Kiss mission on the ESA mission webpage.  

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