NASA TV to broadcast six-hour space walk outside ISS

Aug. 11 (UPI) -- NASA's own TV channel is scheduled to broadcast a six-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The walk will take place on August 17, and coverage will begin at 10 a.m. EDT.

The spacewalk will be carried out by a pair Russian cosmonauts, Expedition 52 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy. While outside the space station, the duo will manually launch five nanosatellites, each with a different purpose -- not all of them scientific.

One of the miniature satellites is encased in paneling created by 3D printers. The cubed satellite will help researchers test the effects of low-Earth orbit on 3D printed materials.

Another mini satellite is being launched in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch, the world's first artificial space satellite, as well as the 160th anniversary of the birth of Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a pioneer in the fields of astronautics and rocketry.

The cosmonauts will also install a series of struts and handrails outside the Russian module, as well collect resident samples as part of the ongoing effort to monitor microbial communities living on the space station.

Earlier this year, Russian officials claimed Roscosmos scientists identified sea plankton in samples collected outside the space station.