Russian cosmonauts perform first spacewalk of 2026
Cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev of the International Space Station's Russian segment opened the hatch, beginning the first spacewalk of 2026 (VKD-66). According to the live broadcast by Roscosmos, the duration of the spacewalk is set for 5 hours and 27 minutes. This is reported by Ixbt.com .
For ISS-74 expedition commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, this is his second spacewalk, while for flight engineer Sergey Mikaev, it is his first. They are being assisted from inside the station by Andrey Fedyaev, who is operating the ERA European robotic arm.
The mission participants have several scientific and technical tasks to perform on various modules of the Russian segment. The primary goal is to install and connect the new 'Solntse-Teragerts' experimental equipment on the 'Zvezda' service module.
Additionally, the cosmonauts in their 'Orlan-MKS' spacesuits will move to the 'Nauka' laboratory module to dismantle a cassette containing materials from the 'Ekran-M' apparatus. In the final stage, the 'Biorisk-MSN' biological equipment container installed on the 'Poisk' module will be retrieved. All major cargo transport and assembly processes are being carried out with the assistance of the ERA robotic arm.
