Russian cosmonauts race through spacewalk

A no-longer-operational experiment package drifts away from the International Space Station after it was released and dropped overboard Wednesday by two Russian spacewalkers. NASA TV

Two cosmonauts ventured outside the International Space Station Wednesday, jettisoning three no-longer-needed components and carrying out a photo survey of the Russian segment of the lab complex in the seventh and final spacewalk planned by the station crew this year. They completed it all much faster than expected.

Expedition 41 commander Maxim Suraev and flight engineer Alexander Samokutyaev opened the hatch of the Pirs airlock compartment at 9:28 a.m. EDT (GMT-4) to officially begin the excursion, making their way to the top of the Zvezda command module to detach the Radiometriya experiment package.

The no-longer-operational experiment, designed to monitor seismic activity, was released from a work platform and carefully pushed away into space by Suraev. The 207-pound component could be seen slowly departing in the wake of the station, disappearing from view a few moments later.

The cosmonauts then removed a cover from a materials science space exposure experiment package, stowed it in the Pirs airlock and made their way to the Poisk module atop Zvezda where the Soyuz TMA-14M ferry craft is docked.

When the Poisk module was launched to the station in 2009, it carried out an autonomous rendezvous and docking using a Russian navigation system that included a pair of dish-shaped KURS antennas on the forward end of the compartment. Those antennas have not been needed since then and the cosmonauts removed them Wednesday, cutting through cables and unbolting the fasteners holding them to the hull.

Samokutyaev, assisted by Suraev, then jettisoned the antennas one at a time, releasing them to the right rear of the station's long axis. NASA trajectory analysts said none of the components would pose any threat to the station between now and when they eventually fall back into the atmosphere.

Throughout the spacewalk, the cosmonauts used still and GoPro video cameras to document the condition of various components on the Russian segment of the space station. They also collected particulate samples from a window in the Pirs compartment as part of an ongoing study to learn more about how rocket plumes affect various surfaces.

Reid Wiseman, inside the station, did his own photo documentation, snapping pictures of the spacewalkers.

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Russian cosmonauts race through spacewalk