Two Russian cosmonauts from the ISS-36/37 crew are expected carry out a 398-minute spacewalk under a programme of the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS).
“Flight engineers, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin, are to open the hatches of the Pirs docking module to start working in outer space later today.
“The spacewalk is expected to last for 6 hours and 38 minutes,” a source at the Mission Control Centre located near Moscow said.
Both cosmonauts will work overboard in computerised Orlan-MK space suits with liquid-crystalline displays on their chests.
The displays will give them a hint what systems and in what sequence should be controlled prior to leaving the ISS and also what the cosmonauts should do in emergency cases.
This is going to be the second spacewalk for onboard engineer Alexander Misurkin.
Misurkin’s colleague Fyodor Yurchikhin can be called the veteran of extravehicular activity (EVA).
He has spent a total of 37 hours in outer space and has six spacewalks to his credit.
The Russian cosmonauts will start laying down cables for the docking with a multifunctional laboratory module scheduled to arrive at the ISS in December.
Besides, they will install panel N2 for implementing the Endurance experiment and soft rails to be used by cosmonauts when they move and work outside the ISS in outer space.
The other members of the ISS-36/37 crew, comprising Russian Pavel Vinogradov, NASA astronauts Karen L.Nyberg and Chris Cassidy as well as Luca Partition from the European Space Agency, will safeguard their colleagues from the ISS.
The spacewalk is to end at 01:09 Moscow time on Saturday.