Two Russian cosmonauts just completed their spacewalks to install the automated arm's control panel.
According to UPI.com, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev left the Russian-built Nauka scientific module at 11:00 a.m. EDT to install the automated arm's control panel, returning to the ISS at 5:48 p.m. EDT.
NASA said this was Artemyev's fourth spacewalk and Matveev's first. This year, this will be the station's fourth spacewalk and the 249th overall for space station installation, maintenance, and alterations.
IN SPACE - FEBRUARY 28: In this handout image provided by NASA, NASA astronauts Steve Bowen (foreground) and Alvin Drew, both STS-133 mission specialists, participate in the mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station February 28, 2011 in Space. During the six-hour, 34-minute spacewalk, Bowen and Drew installed the J612 power extension cable, move a failed ammonia pump module to the External Stowage Platform 2 on the Quest Airlock for return to Earth at a later date, installed a camera wedge on the right hand truss segment, installed extensions to the mobile transporter rail and exposed the Japanese "Message in a Bottle" experiment to space. Discovery, on its 39th and final flight, is carrying the Italian-built Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM), Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4) and Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot in space to the International Space Station.
Cosmonauts Finish First 7-Hour Spacewalk
The almost seven-hour operation to activate the 37-foot-long arm, which will be used to transport heavy goods and help spacewalkers, was live-streamed on NASA's website during the spacewalk.
The two cosmonauts also installed railings on Nauka and removed the arm's protective coverings.
According to the European Space Agency, the new arm is capable of transporting a weight of up to 17,000 pounds and will traverse through the Russian portion of the space station.
It's one of three technologies that can carry and move massive things beyond the International Space Station.
Spacewalkers Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev are on their final task today to continue preparing the European robotic arm for operations on the station. https://t.co/yuOTrYN8CV pic.twitter.com/Ko8sC4ryhm
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 18, 2022
The cosmonauts will do a second spacewalk on April 28 to remove the arm's protective thermal blankets on Nauka, which were used during its launch in July 2021 but are no longer necessary, Space.com said.
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The cosmonauts will also perform further work on the new robotic arm, including mobility testing.
Artemyev and Matveev's two spacewalks are most likely only the start of the Nauka module's systems being fully enabled.
More Spacewalk Schedule
NASA noted that more spacewalks are scheduled to finish equipping the European robotic arm and activate Nauka's airlock in readiness for future spacewalks.
The cosmonauts will remove thermal blankets used to cover the robotic arm when it was launched last year and the Nauka module during a second spacewalk on April 28.
CNN said Matveev and Artemyev would also bend the robotic arm's joints, loosen constraints, and put it to the test in terms of grappling.
These are the first of several planned spacewalks to get Nauka and the robotic arm ready for future usage.
When asked how the geopolitical tensions with Russia have affected life on the space station, NASA astronaut Dr. Tom Marshburn said it'd been a "collegial, very pleasant relationship up here, and we're working together" at a Friday press conference.
According to him, the NASA team and Russian cosmonauts have meals and watch movies together on a daily basis.
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