Russian Cosmonauts Just Livestreamed an Entire 5-hour Spacewalk

On Wednesday, the Russian space agency (commonly known as Roscosmos) streamed a 5-hour spacewalk on the exterior of the International Space Station. Dubbed Roscosmos Spacewalk 66, the event saw cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev perform necessary maintenance to the station.
NASA’s summary says the walk primarily aimed to “install a solar radiation experiment on the Zvezda service module and remove other science hardware from the Poisk and Nauka modules of the orbiting complex’s Roscosmos segment.”
As you can see toward the end of the video, this 5-hour mission came down to the wire, with astronauts receiving warnings that sunset was approaching quickly. Their task at the time was to retrieve a towel and a window squeegee that had been tied down to the exterior by a prior spacewalk, and to use a towel to clean their own suits and gloves before returning.
On Earth, this would have been a trivial task, but in space, it shows that even routine chores can carry just the tiniest bit of tension.
Beyond that, the cosmonauts’ space stroll provided a plethora of interesting moments and spectacular visuals. There are the obligatory shots of our pretty blue marble, but also fascinating shots of the ISS’s exterior. Helmet cams also provide valuable insight into what things look like for the astronauts themselves.
They also snapped some photographs of the Progress 94 cargo spacecraft, which failed to deploy an antenna in March, used for its automatic docking. Cosmonaut Kud-Sverchkov had to manually pilot it through the docking procedure. The photos will hopefully allow a diagnosis of exactly what malfunctioned on the antenna’s deployment system.
This is the 279th spacewalk in support of ISS, performing the maintenance and upgrades that keep the place livable and productive.
The ISS has been producing some incredible imagery lately, in particular, this shot from Japan’s Kimiya Yui. It was taken through the station window, showing an incredible aurora. It’s hard to imagine that being the view you wake up to, but for ISS astronauts, it’s a near-daily occurrence.
The shot also features some incredible views of distant nebulae, visible even when set against the ultra-bright sunlight reflecting off the Earth.
The US was scheduled to conduct its own Spacewalk 95 in January, but it was delayed due to the crew’s medical evacuation. It was meant to service an HD camera and set up a few new exterior devices, but a replacement spacewalk has yet to take place.
The ISS itself has only a few years of operation left, with the planned end date approaching and no enthusiasm to extend funding beyond it. There will only be a few more spacewalks on the station, by any country, so this sort of imagery should be appreciated while it lasts.
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