OREANDA-NEWS  Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin are expected to go into outer space on Wednesday evening from the International Space Station (ISS) to transfer the airlock chamber from the Rassvet module to the Nauka module using the European ERA manipulator.

According to Roscosmos, the cosmonauts will open the exit hatch of the Poisk module at 23:05 Moscow time. The estimated duration of the exit will be 6 hours 22 minutes.

The main goal of the exit will be the transfer of the airlock chamber by the ERA manipulator from the Rassvet module and its installation on the Nauka module of the Russian segment of the ISS.

During extravehicular activity (VCD-57), Prokopyev and Petelin will first disconnect the communication cables between the airlock and the Rassvet module and dismantle the protective cover from the locking device to the airlock.

After these operations, the astronauts will observe the transfer of the airlock chamber by the ERA manipulator, which will be controlled by Andrey Fedyaev from the ISS. Then Prokopyev and Petelin will connect the cable between the camera and the Nauka module.

For Prokopyev, this exit will be the fifth in his space career, for Petelin - the third.

The previous spacewalk took place on April 19. The cosmonauts transferred the radiation heat exchanger with the ERA European manipulator from the Rassvet module to the Nauka module.

The next spacewalk was planned for April 26, but on April 24 it was announced that it was postponed to the beginning of May for "a more detailed study of its tasks." At the same time, the state corporation noted that the preparation for the upcoming spacewalk of astronauts takes place normally.

Roscosmos announced a series of spacewalks in the spring-summer of 2023 to complete the integration of the Nauka module into the Russian segment of the ISS at the end of March.