ISS Gets A New Robotic Arm

Cosmonauts recently spent time outside the ISS on a spacewalk to activate a new robotic arm for the space station. Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev started their spacewalk on Monday, spending over six and half hours outside the station.

The spacewalk was the first conducted to set up the robotic arm mechanism outside of the Russian Nauka module. On Monday, the first spacewalk saw the cosmonauts install and connect a control panel for the robotic arm.

They also removed the protective cover in front of the arm and installed handrails outside the Nauka module. The spacewalk was the first for Matveev and the fourth for Artemyev.

The spacewalk marks the fourth crew aboard the ISS that has performed this year. It was the 249th since the station went into orbit. Additional spacewalks will be conducted to finish the robotic arm installation.