Astronauts Perform Last Spacewalk to Prepare ISS for Commercial Flights

NASA astronauts make the third and last spacewalk to finish preparing the International Space Station (ISS) for the arrival of commercial spacecraft in the coming years.

#AstroButch & @AstroTerry began today's 6 hr, 45 min #spacewalk at 6:52a ET/11:52 UTC. Watch: http://t.co/KX5g7yYnYG pic.twitter.com/MhTLYzWcwV

— NASA (@NASA) 1 Март 2015

Expedition 42 Commander Barry Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts, nicknamed "cable guys" by the media, are scheduled to lay 400 feet of cable along the ISS main truss and install antennas as part of the new Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles (C2V2) system, according to NASA. They have already conducted two successful spacewalks in February.

.@AstroTerry on Port 3 Truss getting ready to install antennas. #AstroButch on other side of #ISS on Starboard Truss pic.twitter.com/gksMiBwTCR

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) 1 Март 2015

The astronauts venture into space four days after Virts reported a water leak in his helmet at the end of the previous spacewalk. Mission managers said the issue was not a concern and allowed the astronauts" to proceed as planned.

You don't really feel the sensation of 'speed'. Relative motion to the #ISS is zero…feels like you're floating. @nathanieloffer #askNASA

— Douglas H. Wheelock (@Astro_Wheels) 1 Март 2015

The spacewalk is expected to last nearly seven hours. European Space Agency astronaut from Italy Samantha Cristoforetti is helping Wilmore and Virts from inside the station.

.@AstroTerry & #AstroButch begin 3rd #spacewalk at 6:52 am EST. @AstroSamantha monitoring from inside #ISS. pic.twitter.com/dW86gkmwoK

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) 1 Март 2015

The current ISS crew comprises six people from the United States, Russia and the European Union. Three cosmonauts from the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) include Elena Serova, Alexander Samokutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov.

Good morning from Mission Control in Houston! Looks like a great day for a walk in space! Bring questions to #askNASA pic.twitter.com/o1jhoU3NZO

— Douglas H. Wheelock (@Astro_Wheels) 1 Март 2015

3D animation of today's #spacewalk previews tasks scheduled for @AstroTerry & #AstroButch today… http://t.co/vETFp1kHMf

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) 1 Март 2015