posted 10-14-2025 11:46 AM               

ISS Expedition 73: Russian Spacewalk 64

Two Roscosmos cosmonauts will conduct a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Thursday, Oct. 16.

Expedition 73 commander Sergey Ryzhikov and flight engineer Alexey Zubritsky will install a molecular beam experiment on the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module, remove a mounting platform housing a commercial camera that will be jettisoned and clean windows on the Zvezda Service Module.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov will operate the European Robotic Arm on the Russian segment of the station during the spacewalk from inside the station.

NASA will stream coverage and provide minimal technical commentary as this activity relates to excepted mission operations. Coverage will begin at 12:15 p.m. EDT.

The spacewalk will be the 276th in support of station assembly, maintenance and upgrades, the second for Ryzhikov, who will wear the Orlan spacesuit with the red stripes and the first for Zubritsky, who will wear the spacesuit with the blue stripes.

posted 10-16-2025 06:31 PM               

Cosmonauts install semi-conductor experiment, jettison camera

Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky marked the end of their first extravehicular activity (EVA) together at 7:19 p.m. EDT (2319 GMT) on Thursday (Oct. 16). The two cosmonauts reentered the Poisk module's airlock and closed the hatch behind them, 6 hours and 9 minutes after they began the spacewalk at 1:10 p.m. EDT (1710 GMT).

After configuring their tools, the two crewmates made their way to their first worksite, outside of the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Ryzhikov held onto the Ekran-M, or Molecular Beam Epitaxy experiment, while riding at the end of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) as driven by cosmonaut Oleg Platonov from a workstation inside the space station.

Ryzhikov and Zubritsky installed the drum-shaped unit, ran power cables and mounted a swappable cassette. The experiment is intended to demonstrate the ability to produce very thin materials to being used in semiconductors.

Their primary task completed, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky then made their way to the Zvezda service module to remove and dispose of a high-definition television system that was originally a part of a Canadian commercial payload. Zubritsky stood at the end of the European Robotic Arm and tossed the camera overboard, towards the rear of the space station, ensuring it would not come back in contact.

Given its relatively small mass and volume (180 pounds [82 kilograms] and 2 by 4.6 by 2.3 feet [0.6 by 1.4 by 0.7 meters]), the jettisoned equipment will fall back to Earth and be destroyed during its reentry into the atmosphere.

Ryzhikov and Zubritsky also cleaned a window on the service module before heading back to the Poisk module, picking up an exposed material samples experiment to bring back with them into the space station.

Thursday's spacewalk was the second for Expedition 73 and the 276th in support of the International Space Station's assembly and maintenance since 1998. It was Zubritsky's first EVA and the second for Ryzhikov, who now has logged a total of 12 hours and 57 minutes on his two spacewalks.