Roscosmos Flight 67 engineers Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev completed their spacewalk at 5:37 p.m. EDT today, 6 hours and 37 minutes later. The Russian 52nd spacewalk began at 11:01 a.m. EDT to activate a new robotic arm connected to the International Space Station’s Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module, opening an air hatch in Poisk Bay for docking.
Russian cosmonauts Artemyev and Matveev completed their main goals for the day by installing and connecting a control panel to the European robotic arm, a 37-foot-long manipulator system installed in the newly arrived multipurpose laboratory module Nauka. They also removed the arm guards and installed a fender on the Nauka. The arm will be used to transport astronauts and cargo around the Russian part of the station.
Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov pose during a 2014 spacewalk outside the Russian part of the space station. credit: NASA
In this spacewalk, Artemyev was wearing the Russian Orlan spacesuit with red stripes. Matveev was wearing a blue striped jumpsuit. This was the fourth spacewalk in Artemyev’s career and the first for Matveyev. This will be the station’s fourth spacewalk in 2022 and 249. space walk To assemble, maintain and modernize the space station.
During the upcoming Russian spacewalk scheduled for Thursday, April 28, the couple will ditch the thermal blankets used to protect their arm during their July 2021 launch with Nauka. They will also flex the arm joints, release release restrictions, and monitor the arm’s ability to use two grip attachments.
Additional spacewalks will continue to equip the European robotic arm and activate the Nauka air lock for future spacewalks.
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