An American astronaut has taken to twitter to show preparations for his space walk

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PICTURES of astronauts floating in space is the cause of much envy among us mere land dwellers.

But, just how does an astronaut prepare to walk in the final frontier?

American spaceman, Terry Virts, gave a glimpse when he took to Twitter on Wednesday.

He will be taking the first space walk of his career on Friday with fellow astronaut Barry Wilmore.

Expedition 42, will see the duo embark on a six-and-a-half hour space walk outside the International Space Station.

The tweet showed Virts kitted out in the suit he and Wilmore will wear while they install new docking ports to allow for a future spacecraft expected to visit the station.

#AstroButch and I tried on our spacesuits during a "dry run" today. The real thing is scheduled for this Friday! pic.twitter.com/CnFRNJFRBe

— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) February 16, 2015

The expedition will be on one of three scheduled spacewalks to complete assembly.

As one of the most prolific astronauts in the twittersphere, Virts also posted a picture of himself doing a routine health check-in ahead of the mission.

He then posted a snap of himself testing a virtual reality rescue jet pack he will need in the unlikely event he becomes untethered from the space station during the mission.

“SAFER” virtual reality simulator- the jet pack we can use to get back to ISS if we floated away during a spacewalk. pic.twitter.com/Fp2tiwzpqj

— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) February 18, 2015

Periodic Fitness Evaluation- riding the bike with a heart rate monitor, EKG, and blood pressure machine hooked up pic.twitter.com/m1EV8zGzlr

— Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) February 17, 2015