Russian cosmonauts ready space station for new lab

Two cosmonauts took a spacewalk outside the International Space Station Monday to prepare the orbiting outpost for the arrival of a new Russian laboratory later this year.

Clad in bulky Orlan spacesuits, cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkinspent more than six hours outside the space stationto test automated docking system cables and install equipment to aid the arrival of the new Russian Multipurpose Laboratory, a science module slated to launch to the orbiting laboratory by the end of 2013. The spacewalk began at 9:32 a.m. EDT (1332 GMT).

- One of Russia's spacewalking astronauts

Yurchikhin and Misurkin successfully tested the docking system cables that will be used to help the new Multipurpose Laboratory module dock itself at the station when it arrives. The spacewalkers also installed cable clamps to hold the cables that will route power and data from the U.S. segment of the space station to the new laboratory module. [See Photos of the Russian Spacewalk]

Still, it wasn't all work and no play for the hard-working cosmonauts.

"Can you make the sun not shine so bright?" one of the spacewalkers joked during the orbital work. "It's shining right in my eyes."

Yurchikhin and Misurkin are part of the space station's six-personExpedition 36 crew. Their crewmates fellow cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, NASA's Chris Cassidy and Karen Nyberg and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano remained inside the International Space Station during the spacewalk.

Misurkin and Yurchikhin were lighthearted during the six hour and 34 minute excursion. They joked with Russian Mission Control about being hungry, paused occasionally for a photo and commented on the beauty of the Earth from space.

"I guess we're flying over South America," one of the spacewalkers said at one point. "Gorgeous."

Aside from the new module preparation work, the cosmonauts also replaced a fluid control valve panel on the Zarya module, installed a new science experiment on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory, and retrieved two older experiments.

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Russian cosmonauts ready space station for new lab