Russian Cosmonauts Break Space Walk Record at ISS

  Russian Cosmonauts in Record-Breaking Space Walk at ISS

On Friday Feb.2nd 2018 two Russian cosmonauts spent 8 hours and 13 minutes outside the International Space Station to change out an old electronic box for a vital high-gain communications antenna.

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In doing so, the two cosmonauts, Expedition 54 Cmdr. Alexander Misurkin and flight engineer Anton Shkaplerov, broke a record for the longest Russian spacewalk in history. The previous record was set by Expedition 38 cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanski on Dec. 27, 2013. Misurkin and Shkaplerov broke the old record by 5 minutes.

The antenna is on the Zvezda service module on the Russian side of the ISS and is used to communicate with Mission Control in Russia. The electronic box was outdated and needed to be replaced to allow communication via Russia’s Luch Satellite Data Relay Network.

This hardware, which was made in the 90s, has been on the ISS since 2000, but has only recently been used because it took 17 years for Russia to get the Luch satellites in orbit and operational. Thus, the old hardware was not compatible with the newer satellite wideband technology.

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Removing the old box was very difficult for the cosmonauts, as it was not meant to be replaced in space. There were small bolts, cables and electrical connections that were hard to handle with the bulky EVA gloves. They succeeded however and then it was time to deploy the antenna…uh-oh. It was stuck!

To prepare for the space walk, ground controllers folded the antenna into launch position to give the cosmonauts room to work. When commands were sent to re-deploy the antenna, it jammed. Misurkin and Shkaplerov wrestled with it and finally got it loose, but it deployed 180 degrees from where it should be positioned.

Other than that, the system is apparently working. The Russian space agency ROSCOSMOS is yet to determine if anything further needs to be done.

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The overall space walk record of 8 hours and 56 minutes, set on March 11, 2001, is still held by NASA astronauts James Voss and Susan J. Helms.

This was the 207th space walk at the International Space Station.

The next space walk is scheduled for Feb. 15, to be carried out by NASA astronauts to perform maintenance on the American side of the station.

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