MOSCOW, August 22 (RIA Novosti) – Two Russian cosmonauts on Thursday completed an almost six-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station and successfully returned on board the orbital outpost.
According to Russia’s Mission Control Center, Expedition 36 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin replaced a laser communications experiment with a new platform for a small optical camera system on the Zvezda module, installed new spacewalk aids and inspected antenna covers on the same module.
Misurkin also used a test kit to collect a sample from under a swath of thermal insulation on the Poisk Mini-Research Module. He also photographed a materials exposure experiment and associated cabling along the Poisk.
Before entering the airlock, the cosmonauts, clad in Orlan spacesuits, unfolded a Russian flag in outer space in celebration of Russian Flag Day.
“Today is a holiday, Russian Flag Day. We congratulate all Russians. We must love and respect our flag and then others will respect us,” Yurchikhin said, following his statement with three “Hooray!” exclamations.
This was the cosmonauts’ second spacewalk within the span of a week, the eighth in Yurchikhin’s career and the third for Misurkin.
The spacewalk was the 173rd in support of assembly and maintenance performed on the $100 billion orbiting laboratory, built by 15 countries.
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