NASA Sets Coverage for Russian Spacewalk

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NASA will provide live coverage on Wednesday, Aug. 17, of a spacewalk with two Russian cosmonauts to continue outfitting the European robotic arm on the International Space Station's Nauka laboratory.

Coverage will begin at 9 a.m. EDT on NASA Television, the NASA app, and agency's website. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin around 9:20 a.m.

Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev, both of Roscosmos, will begin the six-and-a-half-hour excursion by exiting the station's space-facing Poisk module. The primary objective of the spacewalk is to install cameras on the European robotic arm, relocate an external control panel for the arm from one operating area to another, remove launch restraints near the two end effectors or "hands" of the arm, and test a rigidizing mechanism on the arm that will be used to facilitate the grasping of payloads.

The European robotic arm will be used to move payloads and equipment outside the Russian segment of the station, joining the Canadian-built Canadarm2 robotic arm and the Japanese arm already supporting station maintenance, operations, and research.

Artemyev will wear a Russian Orlan spacesuit with red stripes, while Matveev will wear a Russian Orlan suit with blue stripes. This will be the seventh spacewalk for Artemyev and the third for Matveev.