--- title: Emergency Spacewalk Planned for Space Station description: Stuck robotic arm could prevent cargo ship arrival canonical: https://time.com/4155132/international-space-station-spacewalk-emergency/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-18T18:15:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:28.555Z article:section: Science og:title: Emergency Spacewalk Planned for Space Station og:description: A stuck robotic arm could make it impossible for cargo vehicles to dock og:url: https://time.com/4155132/international-space-station-spacewalk-emergency/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53a8b61b08b8701e/69887643f887dcefa9e93d73/screen-shot-2015-12-21-at-7-02-03-am.jpg?branch=production&width=622&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 622 og:image:height: 350 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2015-12-21 at 7.02.03 AM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Emergency Spacewalk Planned for Space Station twitter:description: A stuck robotic arm could make it impossible for cargo vehicles to dock twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53a8b61b08b8701e/69887643f887dcefa9e93d73/screen-shot-2015-12-21-at-7-02-03-am.jpg?branch=production&width=622&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Emergency Spacewalk Planned for Space Station > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=5f6b0fd9-d282-4baa-8505-ac930f037944&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME RAW: Soyuz Launch [Watch (HLS stream): TIME RAW: Soyuz Launch](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/b178P3oQ.m3u8) (0:49)  _Published 2015-12-15. European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake blasts off on historic space mission_  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Dec 18, 2015 6:15 PM UTC NASA says the spacewalk is needed to repair a mobile transporter ahead of the arrival of a supply spacecraft to the International Space Station.  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Dec 18, 2015 6:15 PM UTC The International Space Station (ISS) has had a rough go of late, with no fewer than three launch pad accidents that prevented cargo vehicles from getting to orbit in the past year alone. Now another problem aboard the ISS itself may prevent the vehicles that do get to space from actually docking with the station—and one of those vehicles is on its way soon. That [could necessitate an emergency spacewalk](https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2015/12/18/unscheduled-spacewalk-possible-on-monday/) by commander Scott Kelly and astronaut Tim Kopra on Monday or Tuesday. The problem involves the space station’s robotic arm, which moves from place to place along the station’s central truss aboard a sort of miniature rail car. When an uncrewed cargo vehicle arrives, it’s the job of the arm to reach out and grab it, then ease it in for a docking. But two days ago, as the arm was moving along the truss, it got stuck just four inches (1o cm) from where it needs to be to grapple an incoming ship. “Late Wednesday, the Mobile Transporter rail car on the truss was being moved by robotic flight controllers… to worksite 4 just starboard of the centermost position on the truss for payload operations when it stopped moving,” NASA spokesman Rob Navias told TIME in an email. “Cause is still being evaluated, but might be a stuck brake handle.” That comes at a very bad time. On Monday, the Progress 62 cargo vehicle is scheduled to launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan in preparation for a docking with the station two days later. NASA and the Russians could face the twin dramas of the Progress countdown proceeding at the same time Kelly and Kopra are preparing to fix the transporter car. “If the issue is not resolved we would have a discussion with our Russian colleagues,” Navias said. “The launch on Monday is scheduled at 3:44 AM Eastern time. The EVA would occur about 4 hours later.” The ISS crew is in no danger of running out of supplies no matter what. A cargo vehicle did successfully get off the pad and into space on Dec. 6, and the station is always heavily provisioned precisely against the possibility of launch delays. Still, the current problem and the high-wire act that may be necessary to sort it out is one more reminder that even for an orbital outpost that has been continually occupied for 15 years now, space never has—and never will be—easy. TIME is producing a series of documentary films about Scott Kelly’s yearlong mission in space. [Watch them here](http://time.com/space). ## Transcript [00:00] [ NOISE ] [00:03] Ramping up to flight speed. And [00:07] liftoff. Liftoff of Tim Copra, Yuri Malenchiko and [00:11] TImothy Peak on their way to the International Space [00:14] Station. [ NOISE ] It's gonna be burning [00:18] liquid fuel for the first two minutes and six seconds of [00:21] the flight. 60 seconds Pitch. Now one minutes and ten [00:24] seconds into the flight, the Soviet's rocket. [ FOREIGN ] [00:28] And just there we the four strap- on boosters [00:31] jettisoned. The first stage. These men are Yuri [00:35] Melenkenof. Everything going well for the Soviet's craft [00:38] as it continues. Third stage [00:46] activation. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ FOREIGN ] 40 seconds. 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