Russian cosmonauts full first 2025 spacewalk-Xinhua

MOSCOW, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) — Russian cosmonauts have accomplished the primary spacewalk of 2025 from the Russian phase of the International Space Station (ISS), the state house company Roscosmos stated Thursday.

According to the Roscosmos reside broadcast, the extravehicular exercise (EVA) started about half-hour later than scheduled and lasted for six hours, 11 minutes, and 12 seconds, exceeding the deliberate period of 5 hours and 38 minutes.

During the spacewalk, cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Alexei Zubritsky put in scientific gear designed for rising high-purity semiconductor crystals, dismantled the high-resolution digital camera from the Zvezda module and launched it into house, cleaned one of many module’s portholes, and retrieved a cassette container from the Poisk module.

The operation was carried out utilizing Russia’s newest Orlan-MKS spacesuits developed by the Zvezda analysis and manufacturing enterprise. For the primary time, the EVA employed two adjustable-length security tethers for every cosmonaut, an enchancment aimed toward rising flexibility and security throughout spacewalks, Roscosmos stated.

The newly put in gear, a part of the Ekran-M experiment, was developed by the A.V. Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The experiment goals to make use of some great benefits of microgravity and the vacuum of house to develop ultra-pure and exactly structured semiconductor crystals.

In the Ekran-M chamber, positioned within the multipurpose laboratory module Nauka, cosmonauts will take a look at the manufacturing of high-purity gallium arsenide movies, that are utilized in photo voltaic cells. If profitable, the venture may pave the best way for future orbital mini-factories able to producing photovoltaic components straight in house.

Following the completion of the spacewalk, Dmitry Akhmerov, a number one engineer from the Extravehicular Activity Department of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, stated Ryzhikov and Zubritsky would perform one other spacewalk throughout the subsequent two weeks. ■