Tim Peake’s spacewalk: as it happens

Kopra and Peake had replaced a failed voltage regulator in the station’s power system shortly after leaving the station’s airlock at around 8 a.m. EST/1300 GMT.

The glitch brought back memories of a scary near-drowning in 2013 by another spacewalker, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, whose helmet developed an internal leak.

NASA astronaut Tim Kopra works outside the International Space Station.

Major Peake will spend nearly six-and-a-half hours outside the ISS from 12.55pm today as he and Nasa colleague Tim Kopra carry out repairs to a broken power unit. It’s being replaced by a spare dubbed Dusty; the spare has been on the space station since 1999. For that reason, there is a 30 minute time limit on the procedure, set to be completed while the ISS is still in shadow.

Fortunately the incident occurred after Kopra and Timothy Peake, Britain’s first astronaut, had successfully restored full power to the International Space Station (ISS). “Now it’s explored space”.

The ESA live-tweeted the spacewalk with a blow-by-blow description of the astronaut’s moving along the station’s truss, unbolting the failed regulator and installing its replacement.

Major Peake, 43, from Chichester, West Sussex, who is on a six-month mission with the European Space Agency (ESA), earlier told of his pride in stepping into space with the Union flag on his space suit.

As soon as the two astronauts were safely inside and the outer airlock hatch had shut tight, Major Peake thanked mission control: “You guys did a great job”, he said.

The key tasks of the mission were accomplished though, as Peake found himself outside the spacecraft for the first time since arriving previous year. The spacewalk was cut short, and NASA implemented changes to its suits, including the addition of absorbent padding in helmets.

“We’re all watching, no pressure! Wishing you a happy stroll outdoors in the universe”, British musician Paul McCartney said on Twitter.

In an interview on NASA TV, Cassidy called it “a significant concern”.

Parmitano was at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany, during Friday’s spacewalk, answering questions about spacewalking.

The first five hours of the mission were a complete success with the team even managing to accomplish further objectives.