During the spacewalk, two Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemeyev and Denis Matveyev displayed a replica of the Victory Banner on the outside of the Russian Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. The Victory Banner was the flag raised by the soldiers of the Soviet Red Army on the Reichstag building in Berlin on May 1, 1945. It was hoisted by Soviet soldiers Alexey Berest, Mikhail Yegorov and Melitin Kantariya and is considered the official symbol of the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany during World War II. The original banner is on display at the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow. Roscosmos spokesman Dmitry Strugovets said the idea of displaying a copy of the flag in space came from Artemyev and he has approval. A total of seven spacewalks are planned. In one of these Artemyev will be joined by the Italian Samantha Cristoforetti, in the others by Matveyev.
