NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei captures first space-selfie of 2018 – See pic

On Monday, January 29, Mark Vande Hei will lead another spacewalk, this time with crewmate Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), to complete maintenance on the robotic hand of the Canadarm2's robotic arm.

Image courtesy: NASA

New Delhi: The first spacewalk of 2018 took place on Wednesday, January 23. Led by NASA astronaut Mark Vand Hei accompanied by fellow Flight Engineer Scott Tingle, the mission witnessed the successful replacement of a Latching End Effector (LEE) on the station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2.

While the maintenance of the space station is a crucial process, it cannot be seen through without a space selfie, can it?

For all you space enthusiasts out there, Mark Vande Hei did what was required and snapped his own portrait – the first space-selfie of the year – during the spacewalk.

On Monday, January 29, Vande Hei will lead another spacewalk, this time with crewmate Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), to complete maintenance on the robotic hand of the Canadarm2's robotic arm. Monday’s spacewalk begins at 7:10 am EST with live NASA TV coverage beginning at 5:30 am.

The January 29 spacewalk will be devoted to securing the degraded LEE B on the station’s Mobile Base System rail car as a spare.

It will be Vande Hei's fourth spacewalk of his career while Kanai's will make his debut.

Spacewalks are events in support of the ISS assembly and maintenance, that science and space enthusiasts look forward to with the initiation of every consecutive expedition launch.