Watch 2 Russian cosmonauts spacewalk outside the International Space Station today

Roscosmos Spacewalk 64 - YouTube

Two cosmonauts will conduct a spacewalk today (Oct. 16), and you can watch the action live.

Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy of the Russian space agency Roscosmos will venture outside the International Space Station (ISS) today at about 12:50 p.m. EDT (1650 GMT), kicking off a spacewalk that's expected to last 5.5 hours.

You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the agency. Coverage will begin at 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT).

closeup of a spacewalking astronaut's helmet and torso, with earth in the background — Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov performs a spacewalk in support of science and maintenance on the International Space Station on Aug. 18, 2014. (Image credit: NASA)

Ryzhikov, the commander of the ISS's current Expedition 73, and Zubritsky "will install a molecular beam experiment on the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module, remove a mounting platform housing a commercial camera that will be jettisoned and clean windows on the Zvezda Service Module," NASA News Chief Cheryl Warner wrote in an emailed statement on Tuesday (Oct. 14).

"Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov will operate the European Robotic Arm on the Russian segment of the station during the spacewalk from inside the station," she added.

Most NASA activities are on hold due to the ongoing government shutdown, which furloughed 80% of the agency's workforce. However, NASA will stream today's spacewalk and "provide minimal technical commentary, as this activity relates to excepted mission operations," Warner wrote.

Other "excepted" agency activities include the operation of weather satellites deemed critical to public safety and work on the Artemis program, which aims to land astronauts on the moon in 2027.

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Today's EVA will be the second for Ryzhikov, who will wear a spacesuit with red stripes, and the first for Zubritsky, whose suit will sport blue stripes, according to Warner.

It will be the 276th spacewalk in the history of the ISS, which has supported rotating astronaut crews on a continuous basis since November 2000.

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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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