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Russian cosmonauts to perform their second spacewalk this year

The spacewalk is scheduled to last six hours and 22 minutes

MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/. Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, who is also a TASS special correspondent aboard the International Space Station (ISS), will begin their second spacewalk in 2023 late on Wednesday, Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos has told reporters.

The main objective of their extravehicular activities will be to transfer an airlock from the Rassvet module of the ISS to the Nauka multi-purpose lab module.

The spacewalk was initially scheduled for April 26, but was postponed due to the need for more detailed research into its tasks, Roscosmos said.

Hatches are scheduled to be opened at 11:05 p.m. Moscow time. The cosmonauts will prepare the airlock for the re-docking, disconnecting numerous cables from the Rassvet module and removing thermal insulation from the docking section of the airlock. They will also remove protective covers from the UFP-4 fixtures and unlock the airlock’s attachments to the Rassvet module.

After that, cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev will remotely control the ERA robotic arm from the ISS to transport the airlock to the Nauka module.

His colleagues working outside the space station will then reconnect cables to the Nauka module.

The spacewalk is scheduled to last six hours and 22 minutes.

It will be Russia’s 67th spacewalk overall (57th scheduled spacewalk) as part of the ISS project, and the second one in 2023. The first Russian spacewalk in 2023 was held on April 19.

Prokopyev will wear the Orlan-MKS N. 5 spacesuit with red stripes and Petelin - the Orlan-MKS N. 4 suit with blue stripes.

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