Archivo del Autor: yoda

Russian Spacewalkers Wish Happy Birthday to First Spacewalker Alexei Leonov

Shortly after beginning their spacewalk, Expedition 59 Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos recorded birthday greetings for the first person to spacewalk, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Leonov’s 85^th birthday is tomorrow, Thursday, May 30.

See the video on Twitter

On 18 March, 1965, Leonov became the first person to leave a spacecraft in a spacesuit to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for a 12-minute spacewalk.

Kononenko and Ovchinin also added signs to the backs of their Orlon spacesuits to honor the first spacewalker. Kononenko’s suit with the red stripes bears a sign that says “1^st spacewalker”, and the sign on Ovchinin’s suit with the blue stripes says, “Happy birthday, Alexei Arkhipovich,” Leonov’s family name.

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Mark Garcia

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Two Cosmonauts Spacewalking Outside Station’s Russian Segment

Expedition 59 Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos began a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk when they opened the hatch of the Pirs docking compartment of the International Space Station at 11:42 a.m. EDT.

Both spacewalkers are wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits. Kononenko is designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), wearing the suit with red stripes, and Ovchinin is EV2, in the suit with blue stripes.

Coverage of the spacewalk continues on NASA Television and the agency’s website. Views from a camera on Kononenko’s helmet are designated with the number 18, and Ovchinin’s is labeled with the number 11.

It is Kononenko’s fifth career spacewalk and Ovchinin’s first.

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Mark Garcia

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NASA TV Broadcasting Live Russian Spacewalk for Station Maintenance

Expedition 59 Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are preparing for their exit from the station’s Pirs docking compartment airlock at approximately 11:44 a.m. EDT to begin a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk at the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Christina Koch is helping the cosmonauts prepare for their spacewalk.

Coverage of the spacewalk is now underway on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Kononenko and Ovchinin will install handrails on the Russian segment of the complex, retrieve science experiments from the Poisk module’s hull, and conduct maintenance work on the orbiting laboratory.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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Station Readies for Spacewalk, Begins Packing Dragon With Science

Two Expedition 59 cosmonauts are finalizing reviews before Wednesday morning’s spacewalk for maintenance outside the International Space Station. Meanwhile, the orbital residents are also readying completed experiments for return to Earth inside the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft next week.

Commander Oleg Kononenko is set to begin his fifth career spacewalk Wednesday at 11:44 a.m. EDT. He will lead first-time spacewalker Alexey Ovchinin during the six-hour-15-minute excursion on the Russian segment of the orbital lab. They will retrieve experiment hardware, clean lab windows and jettison old cables among other tasks.

The duo reviewed their spacewalk tasks and worksites alongside NASA astronaut Christina Koch this morning. Koch will assist the pair with their Russian Orlan spacesuits in the Pirs airlock before and after Wednesday’s spacewalk.

The SpaceX Dragon launched a multitude of life science experiments studying immunology, crystallography, microphysiology and other space phenomena to the station May 4. The completed research samples and science hardware will now return to Earth inside Dragon after it departs the station’s Harmony module June 3. NASA Flight Engineer Anne McClain is readying the commercial space freighter for departure and beginning the work to pack the finalized experiments for analysis in labs across the globe.

Astronauts Nick Hague and David Saint-Jacques spent Tuesday maintaining station systems and hardware. Hague first measured airflow in the Japan’s Kibo laboratory module before routing power cables in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module. Saint-Jacques reconfigured a robotics computer and routed communication cables then checked components on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device.

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Mark Garcia

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