Illini Grad On Space Station To Go For A Walk

A University of Illinois graduate who is an astronaut on the International Space Station is going to take a walk in space.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports that Mike Hopkins will go with another American astronaut on what NASA calls an urgent spacewalk to fix a broken cooling line. The first walk will take about six hours and NASA has scheduled another one for Monday and a third to take place next week, possibly on Christmas Day.
 
Hopkins is a 1991 engineering graduate who was also a co-captain of the Illini football team. He has been on the space station for about seven months in what is his first space flight.