Watch astronaut Mike Fincke tie NASA spacewalking record on Jan. 8

Two NASA astronauts will conduct a historic spacewalk on Thursday morning (Jan. 8), and you can watch the action live.

Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman will step outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday at about 8:00 a.m. EST (1300 GMT), kicking off an extravehicular activity (EVA) that will last 6.5 hours or so. It will be the first spacewalk for Cardman and the 10th for Fincke, who will tie the record for most EVAs by a NASA astronaut.

You can watch the action live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the agency. Coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. EST (1130 GMT).

Five American astronauts have 10 spacewalks under their belt to date: Bob Behnken, Stephen Bowen, Chris Cassidy, Michael Lopez-Alegria and Peggy Whitson. The world record is 16, held by cosmonaut Anatoly Solevyev.

During Thursday’s spacewalk, Fincke and Cardman will help prepare one of the ISS’ power channels for the future installation of a new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array, or iROSA for short.

“Once installed, the array will provide additional power for the orbital laboratory, including critical support of its safe and controlled deorbit,” NASA officials wrote in a spacewalk preview.

Fincke will serve as “crewmember 1” and wear a spacesuit with red stripes, according to the preview. Cardman, “crewmember 2,” will wear an unmarked suit.

Another U.S. spacewalk will follow just a week later, if all goes according to plan. On Jan. 15, two as-yet unnamed NASA astronauts will venture outside the ISS to replace a high-definition camera and install “a new navigational aid for visiting spacecraft,” among other tasks, according to the spacewalk preview.

The two spacewalks this month will be the the first of 2026 and the 278th and 279th EVAs in the space station’s long history.