Roscosmos cosmonauts (from left) Denis Matveev and Oleg Artemyev are envisioned working outside the stations Russian sector during the very first spacewalk on April 18, 2022, to outfit Nauka and configure the European robotic arm. Credit: NASA
Two Roscosmos cosmonauts conducted a spacewalk to trigger the brand-new European Robotic Arm (ERA) less than a day after the SpaceX Crew-4 objective reached the International Space Station (ISS). When four Expedition 67 astronauts complete their stay aboard the orbiting lab, the next significant objective occasion taking location will happen next week.
Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev left the station in their Orlan spacesuits at 10:58 a.m. EDT on Thursday, April 28, starting the fifth spacewalk of the year. Fellow cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov helped the spacewalkers from inside the ISSs Russian segment as they released the ERA from its launch restraints on the Nauka multipurpose lab module and kept an eye on the brand-new robotic arms very first motion.
The SpaceX Dragon Freedom capsule is seen after docking to the International Space Station while the station was orbiting 261 statute miles above the Pacific Ocean. Credit: NASA
The day previously, the SpaceX Dragon Freedom team ship, carrying 4 Crew-4 astronauts, docked to the Harmony modules space-facing port at 7:37 p.m. EDT on April 27. Less than 2 hours later, NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins with ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, entered the ISS beginning a four-and-a-half month research study objective aboard the space station. When the SpaceX Crew-3 mission ends, the 11-person team will live and work together until next week.
Station Commander Tom Marshburn along with Flight Engineers Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron, all NASA astronauts, and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, are packing up to end their stay on the orbiting lab. The four astronauts representing the Commercial Crew Program are completing a six-month science objective aboard the area lab. NASA and SpaceX objective managers are preparing for the quartet to get in the Dragon Endurance crew ship and undock from Harmonys forward port for a splashdown off the coast of Florida next week.
