Russian cosmonauts take first spacewalk in 2024

MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) - Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub have taken a spacewalk from the International Space Station (ISS) to install scientific equipment on the Poisk module, according to a Roscosmos broadcast.

The cosmonauts opened the exit hatch of the Poisk module of the Russian segment of the ISS at 5:57 p.m. Moscow time. The calculated duration of the spacewalk is 6 hours and 36 minutes.

During the spacewalk, the cosmonauts will install equipment for scientific experiments Kvarts-M and Perspektiva-KM on the Poisk module and will try to open a small radar on the Nauka module, which did not open during the previous spacewalk, Roscosmos said.

If the cosmonauts have time, they will dismantle the scientific equipment container Biorisk-MSN and will deploy a pressure and deposition control unit on the Poisk module. Kononenko and Chub will also take smear tests from the surface of the Nauka module.

This spacewalk is the seventh for Kononenko and the second for Chub.

The previous spacewalk under the Russian program took place on October 25, 2023.

The crew of the 71st long-term mission, made up of Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin, as well as NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps and Tracy Dyson, is currently working aboard the ISS.