On the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

(ISS),

extravehicular activities Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA inc ...

are major events in the building and maintaining of the orbital laboratory, and are performed to install new components, re-wire systems, modules, and equipment, and to monitor, install, and retrieve scientific experiments. Due to the complexity of building a station in

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

, space agencies train astronauts extensively, preparing them to encounter surprises during spacewalks, teaching them how to assemble special tools and equipment, and carefully coordinating every activity during spacewalks. From 1998 to 2005, thirty-seven Space Shuttle missions were scheduled to assemble, outfit and begin experiments and research aboard the station. The initial spacewalk to begin the

assembly of the International Space Station The process of assembling the International Space Station (ISS) has been under way since the 1990s. '' Zarya'', the first ISS module, was launched by a Proton rocket on 20 November 1998. The STS-88 Space Shuttle mission followed two weeks after ' ...

was held on 7 December 1998, following the launch of the first section of the station, '' Zarya'', from

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, on 20 November 1998. The spacewalk attached the U.S.-built ''Unity'' node to ''Zarya''. The longest spacewalk was performed on 11 March 2001, when

STS-102 STS-102 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle '' Discovery'' and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-102 flew in March 2001; its primary objectives were resupplying the ISS and ...

crew members

Susan J. Helms Susan Jane Helms (born February 26, 1958) is a retired United States Air Force lieutenant general (United States), lieutenant general and NASA astronaut. She was the commander, 14th Air Force (Air Forces Strategic); and commander, Joint Functiona ...

and James S. Voss conducted a full spacewalk, and then returned to the airlock, but remained in their suits ready to exit the airlock again in case the robotics operations ran into problems. The total time for that spacewalk was eight hours and fifty-six minutes. As of 2 December 2021, there have been 245 spacewalks devoted to assembly and maintenance of the International Space Station totaling 1548 hours and 26 minutes. Thirty-seven of those spacewalks were performed from a shuttle, ninety-three from the

Quest Joint Airlock The ''Quest'' Joint Airlock, previously known as the Joint Airlock Module, is the primary airlock for the International Space Station. ''Quest'' was designed to host spacewalks with both Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits and Orlan s ...

, thirty-two from the ''Pirs'' docking compartment, and two from the transfer compartment at the forward end of the ''Zvezda'' service module.ISS status report 12/23/08 states that sixty-six EVAs have been from ''Quest''. However, all NASA references verify that only sixty-five EVAs have been from ''Quest'', as of the

Expedition 18 Expedition 18 was the 18th permanent crew of the International Space Station (ISS). The first two crew members, Michael Fincke, and Yuri Lonchakov were launched on 12 October 2008, aboard Soyuz TMA-13. With them was astronaut Sandra Magnus, who j ...

EVA on 112 March 2009. *denotes spacewalks performed from the ''Pirs'' docking compartment in Russian

Orlan orlan is an internationally recognized French artist. She is not tied to any one material, technology, or artistic practice. She uses sculpture, photography, performance, video, 3D, video games, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and ro ...

suits.
^denotes spacewalks performed from the ''Poisk'' module in Russian Orlan suits.
†denotes spacewalks performed from the visiting Space Shuttle's airlock.
‡denotes the one EVA and one IVA performed from the transfer compartment at the forward end of the ''Zvezda'' Service Module.
All other spacewalks were performed from the ''Quest'' airlock.
ISS Expedition spacewalks are separated from shuttle spacewalks by a separator.

1998–1999

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Planned

*denotes spacewalks performed from the ''Pirs'' docking compartment in Russian

suits.
^denotes spacewalks performed from the ''Poisk'' module in Russian Orlan suits.
†denotes spacewalks performed from the visiting space shuttle's airlock.
‡denotes the one EVA and one IVA performed from the transfer compartment at the forward end of the ''Zvezda'' Service Module.
All other spacewalks were performed from the ''Quest'' airlock.
ISS Expedition spacewalks are separated from shuttle spacewalks by a separator.

Gallery

References

External links

NASA – EVA FAQ
{{featured list * ISS spacewalks Human spaceflight