Two Roscosmos astronauts go on a spacewalk to activate the new European Robotic Arm (ERA) less than a day after the SpaceX Crew-4 mission arrived at the International Space Station
The next mission will take place next week, when four astronauts from Expedition 67 complete their stay aboard the orbital laboratory.
Astronauts Oleg Artemiev and Denis Matveev left the station in their Orlan spacesuits at 10:58 a.m. EDT on Thursday, starting the fifth spacewalk of the year. Fellow cosmonaut Sergei Korsakov helped spacemen from the Russian segment of the station when they released the ERA from its limiters for launching the multifunctional laboratory module Science and observed the first movement of the new robotic arm.
The day before, the SpaceX Dragon Freedom crew, carrying four Crew-4 astronauts, docked at the Harmony spaceport-facing port at 7:37 p.m. EDT. Less than two hours later, NASA astronauts Kel Lindgren, Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Christophoretti entered the station, embarking on a four-month research mission and a half aboard the space station. The 11-member crew will live and work together until next week, when the SpaceX Crew-3 mission ends.
Station Commander Tom Marshburn, along with flight engineers Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, all NASA astronauts and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, are coming together to end their stay in the orbital laboratory. The four astronauts, representing the program for commercial crews, are completing a six-month scientific mission in the space laboratory. NASA and SpaceX mission leaders plan for the quartet to board the Dragon Endurance crew’s ship and disembark from Harmony’s forward port to land off the coast of Florida next week.
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