On Earth, relations between the United States and Russia have plunged to all-time lows, but in space, Russians and Americans continue to collaborate.
Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev began a seven-hour spacewalk Monday to install a new robotic arm on the floating International Space Station platform near Russia’s Nauka module.
RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS ‘BLINDSIDED’ BY CONTROVERSY OVER YELLOW SPACESUITS, SAYS US ASTRONAUT
“During the first spacewalk, the cosmonauts will install and connect a control panel for the European robotic arm, a 37-foot-long manipulator system mounted to the recently arrived Nauka multipurpose laboratory module,” NASA said in a statement. “The arm will be used to move spacewalkers and payloads around the Russian segment of the station.”
Matveev and Artemyev will install a control panel on the arm, install handrails on Nauka, and remove protective covers from the arm during the operation. Monday’s space venture marks the fourth spacewalk of the year and 249th for work on the orbiting science hub, NASA said.
Nauka is a multipurpose laboratory module used to conduct research and serve as a backup module for the ISS. The module was developed by Russia and launched in July 2021.
A second spacewalk to service Nauka is scheduled for April 28 and will involve the removal of thermal blankets from the module that scientists have concluded are no longer necessary. Matveev and Artemyev will also participate in that spacewalk and test the robotic arm’s grappling ability during that trip.
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During a press conference from the ISS on Friday, U.S. astronaut Tom Marshburn emphasized that the Americans and Russians have friendly relations aboard the ISS despite tensions between the two nations.
“We rely on each other for our survival,” Marshburn said, according to CBS Miami. “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.”
