Cosmonauts commander Oleg Artemyev and flight engineer Denis Maveev opened the hatch of the Poisk module on the International Space Station (ISS) at 1325 GMT on 2 September to complete a series of outstanding tasks which were abandoned after their aborted EVA on 17 August, when Artemyev reported a voltage fluctuation in the battery power of his Orlan spacesuit.
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Artemyev and Maveev complete their work on Strela boom GStM-2. Courtesy: NASA
Their primary mission was to relocate the European Robotic Arm (ERA) external control panel on the Nauka module and to adjust and test the ERA’s end effector grasp capability. The ERA will then be used to grasp future payloads. This task was completed ahead of schedule. The Roscosmos cosmonauts continued on their ‘get ahead tasks’ during their EVA, also referred to as Russian Spacewalk 54A, including extending GStM-2 boom from Zarya to Poisk before returning to the Poisk airlock. Prior to entering the airlock, the cosmonauts were asked to use special towels to wipe their gloves due to contamination – the used towels were then tied to handrails outside Poisk. The EVA concluded at 2112 GMT after 7 hours and 47 minutes.
Russian Spacewalk 54A marked the 253rd EVA in support of the space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades and the eighth spacewalk out of the ISS this year. It was the eight spacewalk for commander Artemyev and the fourth for Matveev.
