They have 6.5 hours to conduct a spacewalk and find out the cause of a hole on the Soyuz spacecraft. So far, almost 60 minutes have passed. Two Russian cosmonauts, Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopyev, are getting ready to examine the MMOD shield of the spacecraft's habitation module. A fragment of the shield will be returned to Earth for further analysis, which will help to determine whether the hole that was found and sealed by the crew was made on Earth before the launch or whether the damage occurred while in orbit.
Evgeny Davydov, is reporting live from Korolyov.
- Evgeny, over to you.
- Yes, Igor, a unique spacewalk is being carried out, which the world's astronautics has never seen before. Here at the Mission Control Center located in Korolyov, which is close to Moscow, we're watching two Russian cosmonauts, Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopyev, examine the external hull of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft live. The Russian cosmonauts are getting close to the area where an air leak was found earlier. Clearly, it's not an easy job. For one, the spacewalk is being carried out while the spacecraft continues to move at the incredible speed of 17,000 miles per hour. Secondly, there aren't any handrails on the hull of the spacecraft, so there's nothing for the cosmonauts to hold on to. That is why Oleg Kononenko is currently on the Strela crane, which is being operated by Sergey Prokopyev. The cosmonauts will soon begin to cut into the heat shield. They will literally have to cut into the MMOD shield in the area of the leak. Before the spacewalk, Sergey Prokopyev took a video of the hole from the other side while he was still in the habitation module.
Sergey Prokopyev, cosmonaut and pilot: "Right now, we're in the habitation module of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, where a pressure leak was found earlier. It happened in the so-called WCS area. Behind this cover, we found a 2-millimeter-wide hole, through which air was leaking".
So far, everything is going smoothly. The spacewalk was planned down to the minute and should go on until around 1 a.m. Moscow Time. The cosmonauts will collect samples of the shield and, in a few days, on December 20th, Sergey Prokopyev will deliver them back to Earth for further analysis.
- Back to you, Igor.
- Thank you. My colleague, Evgeny Davydov, reported on the spacewalk, which is being conducted by our cosmonauts.
