ISS upgrade: Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet begin spacewalk — Watch

Miami: Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) are spacewalking outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday to upgrade the orbiting outpost for the arrival of future space crews.

 The two astronauts officially began at 7:24 am (1124 GMT) when the duo switched their spacesuits to internal battery power.

Kimbrough and Pesquet have worked separately as they prepared to install new docking ports for the next generation of commercial spacecraft and do some minor space station repairs and maintenance.

NASA is live streaming the six-and-a-half hour spacewalk online and you can Watch it HERE. 

The new crew spaceships, being designed by SpaceX and Boeing, should begin flying astronauts to the station in the coming years, as early as 2018.

Currently, the only way the world`s astronauts can reach orbit is by buying a ride aboard Russia`s Soyuz capsules, at $81 million per seat.

This spacewalk is the second of Pesquet`s career, and the fifth for Kimbrough.

The goal for Friday`s 6.5 hour spacewalk was to prepare for the installation of the second of two parking spots for space taxis, known as the International Docking Adapter.

Pesquet spent the first half of his spacewalk inspecting a radiator valve suspected of a small ammonia leak, but was unable to find evidence of any problems.

Meanwhile, Kimbrough disconnected cables and electrical connections on the pressurized mating adapter (PMA-3) to prepare for its move Thursday, March 30, during another spacewalk.

In its new location, it will become the home for the second of two International Docking Adapters, to be delivered on a future flight of a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship.

Kimbrough also worked on installing new cameras and computer equipment outside the space station, while Pesquet lubricated the space station`s robotic arm.

A second spacewalk has been rescheduled on Thursday, March 30, and a third spacewalk on Thursday, April 6.

(With Agency inputs)