Beaumont Astronaut To Make First Spacewalk

Beaumont High graduate Tracy Caldwell Dyson will walk in space for the first time Saturday, when she and fellow NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock are expected to replace a failed ammonia pump on the International Space Station, according to a NASA news release.

Caldwell Dyson and Wheelock, Expedition 24 flight engineers, are scheduled to complete the repairs in a second spacewalk Monday.

The first spacewalk was supposed to take place on Friday, but was delayed for a second time by NASA Mission Control.

Caldwell Dyson blasted off April 2 from Russia and is scheduled to return to Earth in September. Her first trip to space as a mission specialist in August 2007 lasted 13 days.

The space station’s cooling system troubles began July 31, when a power spike tripped a circuit breaker, shutting down one of the two pumps that push liquid ammonia through the orbiting laboratory’s cooling system. Attempts to reactivate the stricken pump were unsuccessful.

NASA Television will cover the space walks beginning at 3 a.m. PDT. They can be seen here.