(Updated) Spacewalk underway to configure new European robotic arm: Watch live

Roscosmos cosmonauts and Expedition 67 Flight Engineers Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev have ventured outside the International Space Station (ISS) to configure the new European robotic arm - a 37-foot-long manipulator system mounted to Russia's Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.

The Russian duo began their spacewalk today at 10:58 am ET. During the spacewalk, they will monitor the first commanded movements of the robotic arm from its grapple fixtures after removing thermal blankets and launch locks. The arm's end effectors will translate one at a time to new base points. The duo will also install more handrails on Nauka.

On April 18, Artemyev and Matveev installed and connected a control panel for the robotic arm. The cosmonauts also removed protective covers from the arm and installed handrails on Nauka during the spacewalk.

Today's excursion is the fifth spacewalk at the station in 2022 and the 250th spacewalk for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. You can watch the spacewalk live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website.

LIVE NOW: Watch Russian cosmonauts conduct a spacewalk to remove protective thermal blankets from the Nauka laboratory module that are no longer needed, and perform work on the European robotic arm: https://t.co/z1RgZwQkWS pic.twitter.com/U1TtahPU2b

— NASA (@NASA) April 28, 2022

Update 1

Spacewalkers Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev concluded their spacewalk outside of the Space Station at  6:40 p.m. EDT after 7 hours and 42 minutes.