Roscosmos Expedition 70 cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub began their spacewalk (VKD-61) on 25 October. With the Poisk airlock depressurized from 1729 GMT, the cosmonauts opened the hatch at 1749 GMT. Their mission was to install a synthetic radar communications system and release PARUS-MGTU, a nanosatellite designed to test solar sail technology. PARUS-MGTU was deployed at 2320 GMT.
During the EVA they also disconnected the external Nauka module’s backup radiator coolant loop and inspected and photographed the radiator which had experienced a coolant leakage on 9 October.
The coolant appeared to continue to leak from the radiator after it was disconnected. Two towels used for cleaning were later jettisoned.
Radiator leaks after the external Nauka module’s backup radiator is disconnected from the coolant loop. Courtesy: NASA
The cosmonauts completed their mission and the Poisk airlock hatch was closed the 0130 GMT. This was the 268th EVA in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. It was Kononenko’s sixth spacewalk and Chub’s first.
