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The pair will exit the airlock around 13:50 CET 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.

It is a busy schedule that will see Matthias traverse much of the Station’s exterior, something Matthias recently joked about with his colleagues on board.

“I will go out with my dear colleague Raja. He will do some repairs for the cooling system of the Station, and I will walk around or, I should say, crawl around another part of the Station and do different small activities,” Matthias explains.

“I really do have to do a complete tour of the Space Station,” he says. “It is a motley mix and I’m totally looking forward to it.”

Known as US EVA 80, this will be the 248th spacewalk carried out in support of Space Station assembly, upgrades and maintenance. Matthias will be the 12th ESA astronaut to perform a spacewalk.

The Bartolomeo science platform is the first European commercial facility positioned outside of the International Space Station. Built and operated by Airbus, it was installed on the exterior of Columbus and is designed to offer a high-speed data feed and a unique view of Earth and deep space.

The power and data cable that Matthias is expected to install during this EVA is the final step in connecting Bartolomeo, ready for full operations.

Matthias Maurer: training for a spacewalk
Access the video

Watch full coverage of EVA 80 with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronaut Raja Chari on Wednesday, 23 March live on ESA Web TV channel 2.