Russian cosmonauts start first spacewalk in 2025
MOSCOW. Oct 16 (Interfax) - Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Alexei Zubritsky have stated a spacewalk from the International Space Station (ISS) to install scientific equipment, according to a Roscosmos broadcast.
Ryzhikov and Zubritsky went in open space half an hour later than planned. According to Roscosmos, the spacewalk was due to take place at 7:50 p.m. Moscow time.
The cosmonauts opened the latch of the Poisk module of the Russian segment of the ISS and headed to the outer surface of the station. The spacewalk is due to last five hours and 38 minutes.
According to the plan, cosmonauts Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will install equipment for growing semiconductors in open space (Ekran-M experiment) on the Nauka module. On the Zvezda module, it I planned to dismantle and push away a high-resolution camera, and also to clean the illuminator. The cosmonauts will also dismantle the detachable container from the Poisk module.
The European Robotic Arm (ERA) manipulator will be used to support the work in open space, Roscosmos said. The autonomous ERA manipulator, produced by the German company Fokker Space, is included in the standard electromechanical technical maintenance devices of the Nauka module. As the main manipulator of the Russian segment of the station, it ensures the installation and removal of target loads on the surface of the station and monitoring of the state of the station' surface, as well as remote removal of cosmonauts in portable workplaces during spacewalks.
It will be the second spacewalk for Ryzhikov and the first one for Zubritsky.
The previous spacewalk took place on December 20, 2024. Cosmonauts Alexei Ovechkin and Ivan Vagner installed and dismantled scientific equipment on the external surface of the ISS.
A crew of seven people - Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov, Alexei Zubritsky and Oleg Platonov, NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Jonathan Kim and Michael Fincke, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui - is now working on the ISS.
