Russian cosmonauts conclude spacewalk one-hour ahead of schedule

 Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev have successfully concluded a spacewalk focused on science experiments placed on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) over one hour ahead of schedule, Russia’s Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said Monday, RIA Novosti reports.“The exit hatch [of the docking compartment Pirs] was closed on August 18, 2014 at 23:12 Moscow time [19:12 GMT]. Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev have carried out open space works for the second time during the expedition. The extravehicular activity was approximately 5 hours 10 minutes in duration,” Roscosmos said.The spacewalk began at 18:02 Moscow time [14:02 GMT] and was planned to last for six hours and 15 minutes.The first task, performed by the cosmonauts was the launch of the NS-1 nanosatellite. The 1.5-kg satellite, unofficially dubbed as the Peruvian CubeSat Chasqui-1, will transmit camera images and telemetry back to Earth for further academic studies by students under the Radioscaf educational program.As part of the spacewalk, Skvortsov and Artemyev mounted the Expose-R experiment package on the station’s hull. The experiment serves to research a long-term influence of the space environment on the survival of bacteria, fungi, plants and animals.Russian astronauts also photographed the thermal shield of the outer surface of the Russian segment of the ISS. Another task of the astronauts was to isolate and retrieve a Biorisk experiment container, which analyzes how microbial growth affects materials in space.According to NASA, this is the 181st spacewalk devoted to ISS assembly and maintenance since construction of the space outpost began in 1998, the fourth so far this year.Bakudaily.Az