Astronaut David Saint-Jacques Gets his Spacewalk

Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques assists NASA astronauts Christina Koch (left) and Nick Hague as they verify their U.S. spacesuits are sized correctly and fit properly ahead of a set of upcoming spacewalks. Credit: NASA.

NASA announced yesterday that Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques will participate in his first spacewalk currently scheduled for April 8.

For Saint-Jacques it will be one of his mission highlights.  He had extensive training to prepare him for a spacewalk, but there was no guarantee he would get the opportunity. Now he will.

Saint-Jacques spacewalk would be the third scheduled as part of Expedition 59. NASA astronaut Anne McClain is tentatively scheduled to be the other astronaut on the spacewalk.

The first Expedition 59 spacewalk was successfully completed last Friday, March 22 by NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Anne McClain.

The second scheduled spacewalk was to have featured the first all-female spacewalk with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch. However an spacesuit issue came up and NASA said “after consulting with McClain and Hague following the first spacewalk, mission managers decided to adjust the assignments, due in part to spacesuit availability on the station. McClain learned during her first spacewalk that a medium-size hard upper torso – essentially the shirt of the spacesuit – fits her best. Because only one medium-size torso can be made ready by Friday, March 29, Koch will wear it.”

The second spacewalk will now feature NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch. Their spacewalk will see them continue the work started on the first spacewalk which is to install lithium-ion batteries for one pair of the station’s solar arrays.

NASA said “experts will discuss the work to be performed on the April 8 spacewalk during a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 2, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.” SpaceQ will carry the live event.

NASA said participants in the briefing will be:

  • Kenneth Todd, International Space Station manager for Operations and Integration
  • Rick Henfling, spacewalk flight director
  • John Mularski, lead spacewalk officer

During Saint-Jacques and McClain’s spacewalk they “will lay out jumper cables between the Unity module and the S0 truss, at the midpoint of the station’s backbone. This work will establish a redundant path of power to the Canadian-built robotic arm, known as Canadarm2. They also will install cables to provide for more expansive wireless communications coverage outside the orbital complex, as well as for enhanced hardwired computer network capability.”

About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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