Fourth and Final Shuttle Astronaut Spacewalk Set

The fourth and final STS-134 spacewalk with Mike Fincke and Greg Chamitoff is set to begin Friday at 12:46 a.m. EDT and last approximately six and a half hours. The primary task of the spacewalk is to transfer the Orbiter Boom Sensor System from the shuttle to the space station. If all goes as planned, the total number of hours spent spacewalking for International Space Station assembly and maintenance is expected to surpass 1,000.

It will be the last spacewalk by space shuttle crew members. A spacewalk during the shuttle program’s final mission, STS-135, is to be conducted by space station residents.

The entire crew gathered for an hour-long spacewalk procedure review at the end of its workday. Fincke and Chamitoff will spend the night in a reduced-pressure Quest airlock campout to reduce the nitrogen content of their blood.

The third STS-134 spacewalk brought the total time spent for station assembly construction and maintenance to 995 hours and 13 minutes during 158 spacewalks.

At about 9 p.m. Friday, Fincke will become the record-holder for the number of days a U.S. astronaut has spent in space, surpassing Peggy Whitson’s total of 377 days.