New Russian ISS crewmembers to go on first spacewalk on Nov 17

MOSCOW. Sept 1 (Interfax) - New Russian crewmembers of the International Space Station (ISS) will go on their first spacewalk on November 17, while the total number of spacewalks will reach five, Soyuz MS-22 spaceship commander Sergei Prokopyev said.

"The first [spacewalk] is scheduled to take place on November 17. The main task will be the integration of the MLM (Nauka) module into the station framework and the additional equipment of the station exterior. All of that will be done by means of a European robotic arm to be controlled by Anna Kikina," Prokopyev said at a press conference on Thursday.

"There are plans to perform five spacewalks," he said.

The spaceship crew will spend 188 days at the ISS, and the mission will be over on March 28, 2023, Prokopyev said.

A Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle carrying the Soyuz MS-22 manned spaceship is scheduled to take off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 21, 2022. The spaceship will be piloted by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, and NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio.

Meanwhile, a Falcon-9 rocket will be launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 3 to carry the Crew Dragon Crew-5 expedition, including Kikina, to the ISS.