Spacewalk on April 18: A new robotic arm

Spacewalk on April 18, 2022

On Monday, April 18, 2022, two Russian cosmonauts will perform the first in a pair of spacewalks from the International Space Station (ISS). The goal is to activate a new robotic arm attached to the Nauka module on ISS. NASA’s live coverage of the event will begin on Monday at 14 UTC (10 a.m. EDT) on NASA TV, and the NASA website and mobile app. The spacewalk itself is scheduled to begin at around 14:25 UTC (10:25 a.m. EDT) and is expected to last about seven hours. Watch here.

A new arm for Nauka

Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev – of Expedition 67 – will conduct the spacewalk. They’ll begin by exiting the space-facing Poisk module of the station’s Russian segment. At completion, the pair will have installed and connected a control panel for the European robotic arm, a 37-foot-long extension of the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. They will also remove protective covers from the arm and install handrails on Nauka which will later be used in future spacewalks.

Look for Artemyev in a spacesuit with red stripes. Matveev will be wearing blue stripes.

This spacewalk will be the fourth in Artemyev’s career and the first for Matveev. Moreover, it will be the fourth spacewalk for the station in 2022 and the 249th spacewalk dedicated to maintenance and upgrades.

The second spacewalk in the series is currently scheduled for April 28.

And that spacewalk won’t be the last, as NASA says there will be future spacewalks to continue outfitting the European robotic arm.

The Exp 67 crew is gearing up for a @Commercial_Crew swap and a pair of Russian spacewalks this month. https://t.co/rF1yZ1pApM

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 14, 2022

Bottom line: Watch two Russian cosmonauts spacewalk on April 18, 2022.

Read more from EarthSky: The Nauka module mishap that sent ISS tumbling

Via NASA