Two Russian cosmonauts will carry out an exit from the International Space Station (ISS) this Friday to continue equipping the European robotic arm in the Nauka laboratory of the International Space Station, Nasa reported.
Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev, both from Roscosmos, will exit the Poisk module oriented to the station space. The main goals of the spacewalk are to relocate an external control panel for the arm from one area of operation to another and to test a stiffening mechanism on the arm that will be used to make it easier to grip payloads.
Artemyev will wear a red-striped Russian Orlan space suit, while Matveev will wear a blue-striped Russian Orlan suit. This will be Artemyev’s eighth spacewalk and Matveev’s fourth.
Spacewalk this Friday will complete the unfinished tasks of a spacewalk on August 17, which was discontinued after Artemyev’s spacesuit displayed anomalous battery readings approximately two hours and 17 minutes into the spacewalk. Artemyev and Matveev completed the installation of a pair of cameras on the arm and removed the parts attached to the arm’s end effector before the spacewalk was over.
The European robotic arm will be used to move payloads and equipment out of the Russian segment of the station, joining the Canadarm2 robotic arm built in Canada and to the Japanese arm that already supports the station’s maintenance, operations and research.
