June 22 (UPI) — Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin embarked on a spacewalk from the International Space Station to replace communications and science equipment on Thursday.
At 10:20 a.m. EDT, Prokopyev and Petelin left the space station and are expected to remain outside for approximately seven hours. During the spacewalk, they will replace science and communications gear on the station’s Poisk and Zvezda modules.
NASA is providing live coverage of the spacewalk through NASA TV.
On Wednesday, Petelin and Prokopyev prepared a timeline for the hardware replacements with the assistance of fellow cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. NASA flight engineer Stephen Bowen helped the duo set up their space suits with lights, cameras, and batteries in preparation for the spacewalk.
Later on Wednesday, Fedyaev applied an anti-fungal agent to surfaces in the station’s Zarya module.
United Arab Emirates Astronaut Sultan Alneyadi pedaled an exercise bike while wearing sensors to monitor his blood pressure and breathing volume.
In April, Bowen and Alneyadi prepared for the installation of power upgrades and brought antenna equipment inside for upgrades during a joint spacewalk.
On Wednesday, Bowen stored gear inside the Zenith-1 truss segment of the station, which is connected to the Unity module. Fellow NASA flight engineer Woody Hoburg assisted Bowen in loading and unloading cargo from the SpaceX Cargo Dragon, which is docked with the station.
NASA flight engineer Frank Rubio replaced computer drives in the Columbus Laboratory Module before checking power systems inside the Quest airlock.
The scheduled spacewalk on Thursday marks the fifth time Prokopyev and Petelin have conducted a spacewalk together, and it is the ninth spacewalk conducted by the ISS crew this year.
