Two astronauts today began what is expected to be a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to repair a robotics system, along with cooling pump and a television camera on the International Space station.

NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency set their spacesuits to internal battery power and then stepped outside of an airlock at 8:30 a.m. ET to begin their work.

Inside the spacecraft, flight engineer Barry Wilmore will operate the robotic arm to move Gerst around the space station during the spacewalk. Wilmore also is acting as the spacewalk coordinator, overseeing his partners’ work.

One of the astronauts’ tasks will be to install a mobile transporter relay assembly system, which provides backup power to the rail system that runs the length of the station. Robotic armsRobot Canadarm2 and Dextre move along the station’s truss using this rail system.

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