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Russian cosmonauts to perform a spacewalk on Friday

The Russian crewmembers of the ISS will use the ERA robotic arm to move a heat exchanger from the Rassvet mini-research module to the Nauka multipurpose lab on the ISS Russian segment

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, who is also a TASS special correspondent on board the International Space Station (ISS), will perform their second spacewalk during the current ISS mission on Friday.

During the spacewalk, codenamed VKD-56, the Russian crewmembers of the ISS will use the ERA robotic arm to move a heat exchanger from the Rassvet mini-research module to the Nauka multipurpose lab on the ISS Russian segment.

The radiator will be transferred using the ERA robotic arm that will be handled by female cosmonaut Anna Kikina from inside the orbital outpost. Petelin and Prokopyev will carry out their work outside the space station. They will control the radiator’s transfer, disconnect cables and handle the mechanical docking.

The heat exchanger is needed to remove extra thermal loads from the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module during scientific experiments.

It will be the fourth spacewalk for Prokopyev and second for Petelin. It is scheduled to start at 14:20 Moscow time and will be broadcast live on the official website of Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos.

The spacewalk is expected to last approximately 6 hours 37 minutes. Both cosmonauts will work in Orlan MKS spacesuits: Prokopyev’s suit has red stripes, while Petelin’s suit has blue.

On November 17, 2021, Russia’s world-renowned TASS news agency and the State Space Corporation Roscosmos signed a memorandum of cooperation, under which a TASS news office was established aboard the ISS. Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin was the first TASS special reporter in space. His flight lasted 12 days. Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev was the second TASS special reporter in space. Presently, Dmitry Petelin is heading the TASS outer space-based branch.

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