August 21, 2012

Image Credit: NASA/Roscosmos

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Cosmonauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) handled a spacewalk on Monday that took 5 hours and 51 minutes to complete, involving the moving of a telescoping space crane to a different module.

The cosmonauts moved the module in preparation of a Russian laboratory that will be docking with the International Space Station sometime next year.

After moving the crane, they sent off a small science satellite into orbit by using a handling tool to manually deploy the 20-pound spacecraft on a trajectory to the rear of the space station.

The last major objective of the spacewalk was to install five micrometeoroid shields on the Zvezda command module.

Mondays spacewalk was the ninth for Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko. It was the 163rd spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance, according to NASA.

Another Expedition 32 spacewalk is scheduled for August 30, and it will be conducted by NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide.

During the next spacewalk, the two astronauts will use the U.S. extravehicular mobility unit spacesuits for the first time since July 2011. It will be a 6.5-hour mission designed to replace a faulty power relay unit on the stations truss, install power cables before the Russian laboratory module arrives next year, and replace a failing robotic arm camera.

The rest is here:

Astronauts Finish Successful EVA Outside Of The Space Station