(Updated) Spacewalk to prepare Nauka module for space operations currently underway

Today's spacewalk is the first of up to 11 spacewalks to prepare the new Nauka module for space operations. The Nauka module launched aboard a Russian Proton-M rocket on July 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and docked autonomously to the Earth-facing Zvezda port on July 29th.

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are conducting a spacewalk to prepare the new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for operations in space. The spacewalk commenced today (Friday) at 10:41 a.m. EDT and it will last as long as seven hours.

The duo's main tasks for today's spacewalk are to connect power and ethernet cables to the new module and install handrails to enable spacewalkers to manoeuvre to and about its exterior more easily. Live coverage for today's spacewalk is available on NASA Television, the NASA app and the agency's website.

This animation provides a good look at the activities Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov will be performing during today's spacewalk. https://t.co/cBNqC5JGaz pic.twitter.com/aldYzOSgEj

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) September 3, 2021

According to NASA, today's spacewalk is the first of up to 11 spacewalks to prepare the new Nauka module for space operations. The Nauka module launched aboard a Russian Proton-M rocket on July 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and docked autonomously to the Earth-facing Zvezda port on July 29th.

Novitskiy and Dubrov have another spacewalk scheduled for September 9 to continue outfitting the Nauka module, followed by another spacewalk on September 9 with Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (ESA) to modify the station's Port-4 (P4) truss structure in preparation for installation in 2022 of a new solar array to augment the station's power supply.

Update: Novitskiy and Dubrov concluded their spacewalk at 6:35 p.m. EDT after 7 hours and 54 minutes after completing the major objective to connect power cables between the Nauka laboratory module and the Zarya module. Checkouts of the two electrical power cable systems from Zarya to Nauka were successful, NASA said on Friday.