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Russian EVA-53; Preparing the ERA manipulator for work.

Cosmonauts exit Poisk airlock hatch at 14:25 UTC


The Russian Cosmonauts of Expedition-67 during VKD-52 , Photo: Roscosmos

Thursday /April 28, 2022/ The ISS Expedition-67 Cosmonauts; Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev will exit the space station for the first time during the current expedition to the ISS (VKD No. 53), They will begin extravehicular activities by exiting the space-facing Poisk module of the station’s Russian segment.

This will be Oleg Artemyev's fifth extravehicular activity in his career, and second for Matveev. The spacewalk is expected to last approximately 6 hours and 43 minutes. Artemyev will work in the Orlan-MKS spacesuit number 5 with red stripes, Matveev - in Orlan-MKS number 5 with blue stripes.


Commander Oleg Artemyev and Cosmonaut Denis Matveev, Photo: Roscosmos

The Extravehicular activities VKD-52 –completed on April 18 – and today the VKD-53 will be carried out in accordance with the schedule, the main goal of the work will be the preparation of the European ERA manipulator for operation on the Russian segment of the ISS.


Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev during EVA-52

During the second spacewalk of Expedition-67, Cosmonauts continue the preparation of the ERA manipulator for operation on the Russian segment of the ISS.

  • Cosmonauts will be dismantling covers of screen-vacuum thermal insulation from the ERA manipulator;

  • preparation of end effectors and ERA elbow for work;

  • installation of three handrails on ERA;

  • Monitoring the movements of the ERA end effectors to the base flight points.






VKD-53 Live on NASA TV


In total, seven spacewalks are planned for the duration of the expedition of Artemyev, Matveev and his colleague Sergei Korsakov. Oleg Artemyev will perform one of the EVA with Italian Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti (arrived today on SpaceX Crew-4 mission), the rest of the EVA's paired with Denis Matveev.

Roscosmos already said that Cosmonaut Sergei Korsakov has no extravehicular activity planned, despite this he is ready for such work. In addition, he was trained to work with the ERA manipulator.

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