Watch live today: NASA astronauts conducting spacewalk delayed by ISS medical evacuation

U.S. Spacewalk 94 - YouTube

Two NASA astronauts will conduct a long-delayed spacewalk today (March 18), and you can watch the action live.

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closeup photo of a spacewalking astronaut working outside the international space station with earth in the background — NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Anne McClain is pictured near one of the International Space Station’s main solar arrays during a spacewalk on May 1, 2025 to upgrade the orbital outpost’s power generation system and relocate a communications antenna. (Image credit: NASA)

Today's spacewalk was originally scheduled for Jan. 8, with NASA's Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman supposed to suit up. But that plan was nixed when a then-unnamed member of SpaceX's Crew-11 astronaut mission to the ISS experienced a medical issue.

That issue led to Crew-11's departure on Jan. 15, about a month earlier than originally planned. It was the first medical evacuation in the long history of the ISS.

Fincke later revealed he was the one who experienced the problem on orbit. Neither Fincke nor NASA has revealed details about the concern, but both have stressed that the astronaut is doing fine.

Today's spacewalk will be the fourth for Meir and the first for Williams. The duo will help prepare one of the station's power channels for the future installation of an iROSA (International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array).

Another spacewalk with similar goals will follow in the near future; NASA officials have said they will announce the astronauts involved and the target date after completion of today's EVA (extravehicular activity). This other spacewalk was also a casualty of the Crew-11 medical evacuation; it was originally supposed to take place on Jan. 15.

The two upcoming spacewalks will be first ISS EVAs of 2026, the first for the orbiting lab's current Expedition 74 and the 278th and 279th overall in the outpost's lifetime.

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.