All news

Cosmonauts delay disposal of ISS junk ahead of NASA rocket launch

During their spacewalk on Friday, Russian cosmonauts dismantled launch fixation rings of the ERA robotic arm, attached to the Russian segment of the ISS

ISS, September 3. /TASS/. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveyev postponed the disposal of space junk during their latest spacewalk in order not to interfere with the upcoming NASA mission, a Russian space official has told reporters.

During their spacewalk on Friday, Russian cosmonauts dismantled launch fixation rings of the ERA robotic arm, attached to the Russian segment of the ISS. They were expected to dispose of those elements by jettisoning them into space, but the operation has been removed from the spacewalk’s schedule.

"The task of jettisoning the rings was removed from today’s to-do list, because our partners are launching a spacecraft tomorrow. We have decided not to dispose of those rings, as the task can wait until the next spacewalk," said Dmitry Akhmerov, a lead engineer of the Extravehicular Activities Department of Russia’s state-run rocket and space corporation RSC Energia.

A yet another attempt to launch the Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket as part of an uncrewed flight to the Moon is scheduled for Saturday, September 3. It was initially planned for August 29, but delayed for technical reasons.

Friday’s spacewalk of Russian cosmonauts is expected to last six hours and 18 minutes.