Two Russian cosmonauts are again contained in the Worldwide House Station after conducting a spacewalk to put in a semiconductor supplies experiment, in addition to retrieve and jettison a no-longer-needed digicam from the outside of the orbiting advanced.
Expedition 73 commander Sergey Ryzhikov and flight engineer Alexey Zubritsky, each with Russia’s federal house company Roscosmos, marked the tip of their first extravehicular exercise (EVA) collectively at 7:19 p.m. EDT (2319 GMT) on Thursday (Oct. 16). The 2 cosmonauts reentered the Poisk module’s airlock and closed the hatch behind them, 6 hours and 9 minutes after they started the spacewalk at 1:10 p.m. EDT (1710 GMT).
After configuring their instruments, the 2 crewmates made their approach to their first worksite, outdoors of the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Ryzhikov held onto the Ekran-M, or Molecular Beam Epitaxy experiment, whereas driving on the finish of the European Robotic Arm (ERA), which was pushed by cosmonaut Oleg Platonov from a workstation contained in the house station.
Ryzhikov and Zubritsky put in the drum-shaped unit, ran energy cables and mounted a swappable cassette. The experiment is meant to exhibit the flexibility to supply very skinny supplies — too skinny to be made reliably on Earth — that may go from the microgravity surroundings of outer house to being utilized in semiconductors.
Their main activity accomplished, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky then made their approach to the Zvezda service module to take away and get rid of a high-definition tv system that was initially part of a Canadian business payload. Zubritsky then stood a the tip of the European Robotic Arm and tossed the digicam overboard, towards the rear of the house station, guaranteeing it might not come again involved with the outpost.
“It’s going so properly,” radioed Zubritsky because the digicam disappeared into the shadow of Earth. “Jettison is full.”
Given its comparatively small mass (180 kilos, or 82 kilograms) and quantity (2 by 4.6 by 2.3 ft, or 0.6 by 1.4 by 0.7 meters), the jettisoned tools will fall again to Earth and be destroyed throughout its reentry into the environment.
Ryzhikov and Zubritsky additionally cleaned a window on the service module earlier than heading again to the Poisk module, selecting up an uncovered materials samples experiment to carry again with them into the house station.
Thursday’s spacewalk was the second for Expedition 73 and the 276th in assist of the Worldwide House Station‘s meeting and upkeep since 1998. It was Zubritsky’s first EVA and the second for Ryzhikov, who now has logged a complete of 12 hours and 57 minutes on his two spacewalks.
