This morning I got up at 4am to catch the live broadcast by NASA of a spacewalk by astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore on the International Space Station. Their mission was to replace a malfunctioning "sequential shunt unit" that regulates electricity generated by one of the solar panels on the ISS. Sounds super boring, but in outer space… AMAZING.
I'm so happy that I live in an age where I can witness humanity take its first baby steps into space.
When I was born, humanity had not yet visited the moon. People doubted if it was even possible. By the time of my christening on July 20, Apollo 11 had landed, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took our first steps — live on television!– on our closest celestial neighbor.
Now a spacewalk is a relatively routine activity, not garnering any media attention at all. Still I found it thrilling to watch even mundane activities like moving around the station, unscrewing a device, and taking pictures in space.
If you want to watch the next spacewalk on the ISS, tune into the NASA video page on October 22 at 9:22am ET. More info on the NASA website.