Spacewalkers Relax and Prepare for July 15 Spacewalk

Cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, station commander, and Oleg Kononenko, flight engineer, completed their mission’s first spacewalk Thursday, July 10. They spent 6 hours, 18 minutes inspecting their docked Soyuz vehicle and retrieving a pyrotechnic bolt for inspection later back on Earth.

Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff occupied the Soyuz vehicle during the spacewalk as a precaution in the unlikely event the spacewalkers would have to enter if the Pirs airlock failed to repressurize.

After relaxing a bit Friday, Volkov and Kononenko will prepare their Russian Orlan spacesuits and tools for a second spacewalk on Tuesday, July 15. During the 5.5-hour spacewalk, the spacewalkers will remove and install science experiments, as well as install rendezvous equipment for an upcoming Russian mission. That mission scheduled for next summer will see an automated docking of a Russian airlock compartment module.

Image Credit: NASA TV