Space Station: Astronauts Prep in Space for Re-Supply Ship's Arrival

Astronauts had a pop-up space walk--a previously unscheduled one that was suddenly on the schedule--this morning, on Monday. The walk from the International Space Station ended around 11:01 a.m. EST, according to a release.

Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra with NASA were out in space releasing brake handles on equipment carts for the crew that are on either side of the ISS's mobile transporter rail car. The idea was to have everything in place before the Russian resupply spacecraft arrives and docks on Wednesday, said the release.

At 3:44 a.m. EST this morning, the resupply mission launched from Kazakhstan.
Kelly also routed another pair of cables to make ready for installment work that will support U.S. commercial crew vehicles. Kopra set up the routing for an Ethernet cable that will hook up to a Russian lab module. Both astronauts also fetched tools that had been in a storage box outside the station.

Altogether, the spacewalk took three hours and 16 minutes, which is no simple walk-on-the-house roof. This week's walk was the 191st that contributed to maintenance and work on the ISS. Crew have now clocked 1,195 hours and 20 minutes on the outside of the lab-in-orbit.

Bezos' Blue Origin Sends Rocket 100.5 Km From Earth, Lands It

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

-Follow Catherine on Twitter @TreesWhales