posted 09-02-2022 08:11 AM               

ISS Expedition 67: Russian Spacewalk 54A

Two Russian cosmonauts will perform a spacewalk to continue outfitting the European robotic arm on the International Space Station's Nauka laboratory.

Expedition 67 commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev, both of Roscosmos, will exit the station's space-facing Poisk module on Friday (Sept. 2). The primary objectives of the spacewalk are to relocate an external control panel for the arm from one operating area to another and test a rigidizing mechanism on the arm that will be used to facilitate the grasping of payloads.

Artemyev will wear a Russian Orlan spacesuit with red stripes, while Matveev will wear a Russian Orlan suit with blue stripes. This will be the eighth spacewalk for Artemyev and the fourth for Matveev.

Friday's spacewalk will complete unfinished tasks from a spacewalk on Aug. 17, which was cut short after Artemyev's spacesuit showed abnormal battery readings about 2 hours and 17 minutes into the spacewalk. Artemyev and Matveev completed the installation of a pair of cameras on the arm and removed parts attached to the arm's end effector before the spacewalk ended.

The European robotic arm will be used to move payloads and equipment outside the Russian segment of the station, joining the Canadian-built Canadarm2 robotic arm and the Japanese arm already supporting station maintenance, operations, and research.

posted 09-02-2022 06:02 PM               

Cosmonauts complete spacewalk

Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev concluded their spacewalk on Friday (Sept. 2) at 5:12 p.m. EDT (2112 GMT) after 7 hours and 47 minutes working outside of the International Space Station.

Artemyev and Matveev completed their major objectives, which included relocating an external control panel for the European robotic arm from one operating area to another and testing a rigidizing mechanism on the arm that will be used to facilitate the grasping of payloads. In addition, the duo extended a Strela telescoping boom from the Zarya module to the Poisk module.

Additional spacewalks are planned to continue outfitting the European robotic arm and to activate Nauka's airlock for future spacewalks. The arm will be used to move spacewalkers and payloads around the Russian segment of the station.

This was the eighth spacewalk at the station in 2022 and the 253rd for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

Artemyev now ranks tenth on the worldwide list of total spacewalk time at 53 hours and 32 minutes on eight EVAs. Matveev now has logged 26 hours and 7 minutes on his four spacewalks.