ISS, April 29. /TASS/. Russian cosmonauts managed to complete tasks of the first spacewalk in 2024 in two hours ahead of the schedule owing to the serious approach, TASS special correspondent at the International Space Station (ISS) and cosmonaut team leader Oleg Kononenko said.
Oleg Kononenko and Nikolay Chub completed tasks on April 24 during the extravehicular activity (EVA) in four hours and thirty-six minutes instead of six hours and thirty-six minutes planned. "The initial estimated spacewalk duration was not wrong; professionals correctly estimated planned time. Nevertheless, this is our serious approach, repeated discussion of work with Nikolay and joint preparations inside the station made it possible to significantly reduce time for operations and moves to workplaces," Kononenko noted.
Complexity of completed efforts should not be downplayed, the cosmonaut said. "This is probably the shortest spacewalk in terms of duration but it does not mean that EVA tasks were less complex. Planned duration was about seven hours because equipment brought out and installed was of a very large size. It was rather challenging to be accommodated with it in the airlock, considering our anthropometric data," he noted.
Cosmonauts deployed a small-size radio detector on the Science module surface and installed experimental equipment outside the Search module during EVA.
Any mistake during a spacewalk may lead to fatal consequences, Kononenko said.
"Every spacewalk is hard labor associated with huge physical load. A cosmonaut performs work on the outer surface of the station being under pressure inside the spacesuit, which strongly hinders all his moves. Furthermore, this is the work that is rather strenuous from the standpoint of psychology. One needs to be focused and attentive all the time, understanding that any mistake may lead to fatal consequences," the cosmonaut said.
The professional also told about cosmonaut’s feelings after completion of extravehicular activity (EVA). "Cosmonauts normally successfully cope with tasks set during EVA. The feeling of huge satisfaction from completed work arises after completion of the spacewalk, from being able to cope with everything, and the positive inflow from the Earth’s beauty seen not via a station’s port but through the pressure helmet of the spacesuit," Kononenko added.
Oleg Kononenko and Nikolay Chub completed their first spacewalk in 2024 on April 24 and successfully completed all the assigned tasks.