Next spacewalk under Russian program due in October-November - cosmonaut

BAIKONUR. Sept 14 (Interfax) - The new Russian crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will perform its first spacewalk in October-November 2023 and another three next year, Soyuz MS-24 Commander Oleg Kononenko has said.

"Presumably, [in] October-November," Kononenko told a prelaunch press conference on Thursday when asked what date had been set for the crew's first spacewalk.

Three subsequent spacewalks will be made next year, he said.

Previously, Kononenko said four spacewalks would be made as part of the crew's expedition.

Soyuz MS-24 is scheduled for launch on a Soyuz-2.1a rocket at 6:44 p.m. Moscow time on September 15 from Baikonur Cosmodrome's area 31.

The crew consists of Kononenko, Roscosmos' Nikolai Chub, and NASA's Loral O'Hara.

On May 29, Roscosmos said that Kononenko and Chub would fly to the ISS for a year-long expedition. The cosmonauts will return to Earth at the end of September 2024, the crew said.

O'Hara is flying to the ISS as part of a Russian-U.S. agreement.

This will be the second flight of a Russian Soyuz MS spacecraft as part of the agreement.