Watch Live: Final Spacewalk of Space Shuttle Program

By Nancy Atkinson - July 12, 2011 at 2:47 PM UTC | Space Exploration

Live Video streaming by Ustream

The final spacewalk of the shuttle era is taking place today, beginning at 8:22 a.m. EDT (12:22 UTC). You can watch it live on the viewer above. This is the 160th spacewalk supporting assembly and maintenance of the space station and the 249th EVA conducted by U.S. astronauts. The two spacwalkers are actually from the ISS crew, Expedition 28's Mike Fossum and Ron Garan, but are being assisted by the shuttle crew. Shuttle Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus will operate the station's 58-foot-long robotic arm to maneuver the spacewalkers around during the spacewalk.

Fossum, EV-1, is the lead spacewalker and is wearing a suit with red stripes, while Garan, EV-2, wears an all-white spacesuit. Fossum's helmet camera displays the number 20 and Garan's the number 18.

The spacewalkers move a faulty ISS ammonia coolant pump from an external stowage platform and store it in Atlantis' cargo bay for return to Earth. They also will install a robotic refueling demonstration kit and a materials science space exposure experiment.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com