The spacewalk lasted almost seven hours Samantha Crisotoforettithe first European woman to venture out of the International Space Station (ISS), and of the Russian Oleg Artemyev. The control center in Moscow interrupted extra-vehicular activity one hour in advance for safety reasons linked to the autonomy of the batteries that power the subsistence systems of the suits. It was preferred to meet at the last of the scheduled operations to guarantee the two astronauts the time necessary to safely return to the ISS.
Cristoforetti, on his second space flight, was the first to exit the air lock hatch of the Russian Nauka module which was opened at 16:53 Italian time. And after a few minutes for the ESA astronaut this never-before-had experience began. After a brief orientation, Cristoforetti docked outside the International Space Station to begin operations together with his Russian colleague, who was on his sixth spacewalk.
Space station, hugs and smiles at the arrival of the shuttle with three Russians: the first after the start of the war
by Matteo Marini
The long series of activities carried out outside the ISS have gone from the installation of platforms and adapters for workstations mounted on the module of the Nauka laboratory, the deployment of ten nanosatellites designed to collect radioelectronics data during the EVAs and the commissioning of a telescopic arm from Zarya, the first module of the International Space Station, to Poisk to assist in future spacewalks.
Cristoforetti’s is the third spacewalk for an Italian, after two of his colleague Luca Parmitano, and the fourth for a European astronaut in the Russian Orlan suit (previously this happened in the 1980s and 1990s). It is also spacewalk number 251 intended for the maintenance and expansion of the International Space Station. The numbers relating to women’s spacewalks are decidedly smaller: the first dates back to 1982, with the Russian Svetlana Savitskayafollowed in the following decades by 13 Americans, he understood Christina Koch e Jessica Meisprotagonists in 2019 of the first female spacewalk, and from the Chinese Wang Yaping.
The child asks Samantha Cristoforetti: “Can you use the yo-yo in space?” And she pleases him
If the spacewalk fulfills an AstroSamantha dream, her Minerva mission could still hold surprises. In fact, it could be extended from the end of September to no earlier than October 6 and the new date could open a door to his appointment as commander of the ISS, even if only for a few days, he said. Gabriele Mascetti, Head of the Scientific Coordination Unit and Head of the Human Flight Office of the Italian Space Agency (ASI). In the direct organized by ASI for the spacewalk, Mascetti explained that the return of Cristoforetti could be postponed due to the delay foreseen by SpaceX for the launch of the Crew 5 mission, which should bring the new crew to the Space Station, intended to replace the one which includes the Italian astronaut. At the moment, he added, negotiations in this sense are underway between those responsible for the ESA and NASA astronauts.