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US astronauts prepare spacewalk to install new docking port
MIAMI: With more private spaceship traffic expected at the International Space Station (ISS) in the coming years, two US astronauts are set to embark on a spacewalk Friday to install a special parking spot for them.
Americans Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins will step outside the orbiting laboratory to attach an international docking adaptor launched aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship last month.
Nasa describes the equipment as "a metaphorical gateway to a future" that will allow a new generation of US spacecraft ─ the first since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 ─ to carry astronauts to the space station.