MIAMI (CBSMiami/CNN) — Two Russian cosmonauts went on a spacewalk outdoors the International Space Station on Monday to activate a brand new robotic arm.
Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev started their almost seven-hour spacewalk at 11:01 a.m. ET and it ended at 5:37 p.m. ET, lasting for six hours and 37 minutes.
READ MORE: Florida Democrats Criticize ‘Pharaoh Of Florida’ Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Congressional Redistricting Maps As ‘Full Frontal Attack On Voting Laws’
It was the primary of two spacewalks that Artemyev and Matveev are conducting to arrange the mechanism outdoors the Russian Nauka multipurpose module.
During Monday’s spacewalk, the duo put in and linked a management panel for the 37-foot-long (11.3-meter-long) robotic arm. The two additionally eliminated the arm’s protecting covers and put in handrails outdoors the Nauka module.
This robotic arm shall be used to help spacewalkers and transport any gadgets that have to be moved outdoors the area station’s Russian phase sooner or later.
Artemyev was identifiable within the Russian Orlan spacesuit bearing crimson stripes, whereas Matveev wore a spacesuit with blue stripes.
It was the primary spacewalk for Matveev and a fourth for veteran spacewalker Artemyev.
READ MORE: Gov. Ron DeSantis Calling Homeowners Insurance Special Session
It was the fourth spacewalk outdoors the area station this yr and the 249th general in help of assembling, sustaining and upgrading the orbiting laboratory.
During a second spacewalk, on April 28, the cosmonaut pair will take away thermal blankets used to guard the robotic arm when it was launched final yr together with the Nauka module. Matveev and Artemyev may even flex the robotic arm’s joints, launch restraints and check its grappling means.
These are the primary of upcoming spacewalks that may deal with getting ready Nauka and the robotic arm for future use.
Asked how the geopolitical tensions with Russia have affected life on the area station, NASA astronaut Dr. Tom Marshburn stated throughout a Friday news convention that it’s been a “collegial, very friendly relationship together up here, and we’re working together.”
The NASA crew and Russian cosmonauts often share meals and watch motion pictures collectively, he stated.
“We rely on each other for our survival,” Marshburn stated, “It is a dangerous environment. And so we just go with our training; we go with recognizing that we are all up here for the same purpose: to explore and to keep this space station maintained.”
MORE NEWS: Gunfire Erupts At Golden Glades House Party, Killing One Person & Injuring Three Others
(©2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company, contributed to this report.)