Cosmonauts Complete Record Breaking Spacewalk in Preparation for the Arrival of New Russian Laboratory

Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikin and Alexander Misurkin have completed a record setting 7.5 hour spacewalk aboard the International Space Station, carrying out work outside of the station, ahead of the arrival of a new Russian laboratory, scheduled to launch later this year.

Today's spacewalkers: Yurchikin(left) and Misurkin

Today's EVA officially began at 14:39 UTC, when Misurkin; conducting his second spacewalk today; opened the hatch of the Pirs Docking Compartment in the Russian segment of the station. He then exited the airlock, and was soon joined by seven-time space walker Yurchikin.

The main tasks that were to be completed today was the re-routing and installation of a series of power and ethernet cables along the exterior of both the Russian and US segments of the International Space Station, as well as the installation of an exposed experiment panel and gap spanners on Poisk.

Using the station's 46-foot long Strela cargo boom, Misurkin maneuvered Yurchikin over to the station's Zarya Module with cables in hand, Yurchikin then began to re-route a cable connector and install cables on Zarya. In the meantime, Misurkin installed the Vinoslivost experiment on Poisk. Vinoslivost, meaning Endurance in Russian, exposes materials to the vacuum of space, so scientists on the ground can observe changes in their properties.

The duo then then began working on re-routing cables that had been installed on a previous spacewalk between Zarya and Poisk. Yurchikin and Misurkin installed the cables between the two Russian modules, while at the same time, securing the cables' slack. The cosmonauts then worked on reeling out and installing an ethernet cable that will be connected to the new Multi-Purpose Laboratory Module(MLM) upon it's arrival later this year.

Fyodor Yurchikin appears in Misurkin's Helmet-Cam as the pair
installed ethernet cables, 4 hours into today's EVA
credit: NASA

Upon completion, the spacewalking pair translated back towards Pirs, before carrying out an inventory check of all their equipment and tools prior to re-entering the Pirs airlock.

Today's EVA lasted a total of 7 hours and 29 minutes- the longest Russian EVA ever conducted, when the hatch of the Pirs Airlock was closed with the two cosmonauts safely inside at 22:05 UTC.

All in all endurace was the name of the game today. Yurchikin and Misurkin will now need to take a well deserved rest at the weekend, ahead of yet another busy week of Space Station science, and yet another spacewalk on Thursday August 22. The pair will once again venture outside one last time together before Expedition 36 comes to an end in September. 

Cosmonauts Yurchikin and Misurkin Complete 6.5 Hour EVA

Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station have successfully completed an Extra-Vehicular Activity(EVA) on the exterior of the International Space Station.

Spacewalker Yurchikin(left) and Misurkin
credit: NASA

Expedition 36 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikin, and Alexander Misurkin of the Russian Federal Space Agecncy donned their Orlan spacesuits and got straight to work on the tasks on hand, after leaving the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock at 2:32 p.m. GMT.

The majority of today's work took place on the exterior of the station's Zarya Module. Yurchikin and Misurkin firstly replaced a regulator panel that has expired in the Russian coolant system, before moving on to the installation of a series of cable clamps in preparation for the next Russian EVA, scheduled for August 15.

The spacewalking duo then routed cables which will provide power and data ahead of the arrival of the new Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module(MLM) Nauka, which is expected to launch to the ISS later this year. Nauka will replace the Pirs Docking Compartment, which was launched in 2001, and will be de-orbited after it becomes the first ISS module to be decommissioned. Nauka will serve as the primary Russian research module aboard the orbiting laboratory. It will be fully equipped with crew quarters, a toilet, and the all-important scientific laboratory.

Fyodor Yurchikin during the EVA
credit: NASA

Yurchikin and Misurkin also spent time retrieving and deploying a number of scientific experiments located on the station's exterior, allowing them to be exposed to the vacuum of space for their specified lifespan. One such experiment is the Photon-Gamma Experiment, which measures gamma splashes and optical
radiation during terrestrial lightning and thunder conditions, from a portable workstation on Zvezda. This will be removed to make way for the installation of an Optical Telescope on future EVAs. The Zvezda Service Module was also the focus of a lot of today's activity, with the spacewalkers testing the KURS docking equipment ahead of the arrival of the MLM. Misurkin and Yurchikin also installed some gap spanners to aid future spacewalkers.

Today's spacewalk by Misurkin and Yurchikin is the first of five EVAs planned for Expedition 36. A further three Russian spacewalks will be performed by Yurchikin and Misurkin, mainly focusing on preparing space station systems for the arrival of the MLM. Two US EVAs will be performed by Expedition 36 Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy of NASA and Luca Parmitano of ESA during the remainder of Expedition 36.