Russian cosmonauts have completed a spacewalk to create a 37-foot robotic arm

Flight 67 engineers Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev of Roscosmos concluded their spacewalk at 5:37 p.m. EDT today after 6 hours and 37 minutes. The Russian 52 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 by opening an airlock hatch in the Poisk docking compartment.

Russian cosmonauts Artemyev and Matveev completed their main objectives for the day as they installed and connected a control panel for the European robotic arm, a 37-foot-long manipulator system installed on the recently arrived multipurpose laboratory module Nauka. They also removed the arm guards and installed a handrail on the Nauka. The arm will be used to move astronauts and payloads around the Russian part of the station.

Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov pose during a spacewalk in 2014 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 spacesuit with blue stripes. 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 upgrade the space station.

During the upcoming Russian spacewalk scheduled for Thursday, April 28, the duo will ditch the thermal blankets used to protect the arm during its July 2021 launch with Nauka. They will also flex the arm joints, release the release restraints, and monitor the arm’s ability to use two grapple fittings.

Additional spacewalks will continue to equip the European robotic arm and activate the Nauka’s air lock for future spacewalks.