Malayali astronaut Anil Menon to make historic spacewalk today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Anil Menon, a native of Ottapalam in Kerala, is set to become the first Malayali to perform a spacewalk on Thursday, marking a historic milestone.

The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 6.05 pm IST and is expected to last about seven hours. During the operation, Anil will remain tethered to the International Space Station (ISS) while working outside the orbiting laboratory.

The spacewalk is part of preparations for installing new solar arrays on the ISS. Anil Menon, who arrived at the space station on July 14, will be undertaking his first extravehicular activity (EVA). He will be accompanied by veteran astronaut Jessica Meir, who has prior spacewalking experience.

ISS Commander Jessica Meir and Flight Engineer Anil Menon will exit the station through the Quest airlock and install hardware on the Starboard 6 truss. The work is aimed at preparing the station for the installation of new solar panels. Although the new panels are smaller and lighter than the existing ones, they are capable of generating more electricity.

Inside the station, NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot will provide operational support to the spacewalking crew.

No Indian citizen has so far conducted a spacewalk. Although Anil Menon is of Malayali origin, he is a US citizen. Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla has visited the International Space Station but did not perform a spacewalk. Earlier, astronauts of Indian origin, including Sunita Williams and Raja Chari, have carried out spacewalks.
Anil Menon is also scheduled to undertake additional spacewalks on August 13 and August 25.