Cosmonauts complete their first spacewalk in 2026of 2026

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Cosmonauts complete their first spacewalk in 2026

On May 27, members of Expedition 74 Sergei Kud'-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev from the Soyuz MS-28 crew worked on the exterior of the Russian ISS Segment with the support of the European Robotic Arm, ERA (INSIDER CONTET), controlled by Andrei Fedyaev from the Nauka module.

Previous spacewalk: VKD-65

VKD-66 spacewalk at a glance:

Spacewalker 1	Sergei Kud'-Sverchkov, Orlan-MKS No. 7 suit with red stripes
Spacewalker 2	Sergei Mikaev, Orlan-MKS No. 6 suit with blue stripes
Duration	6 hours 5 minutes (actual); 5 hours (planned)
Hatch opening	2026 May 27, 17:18 Moscow Time (actual); 17:15 (planned)
Hatch closure	2026 May 27, 23:23 Moscow Time (actual); 22:45 (planned)
Airlock	MIM2 Poisk
ISS expedition	74
ISS spacewalk	279

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Staged from the Poisk module, MIM2, the VKD-66 spacewalk has three main tasks. Most importantly, the pair will install the 50-kilogram Solntse-Teragerts telescope, for monitoring solar flares, on the exterior of the Zvezda Service Module, SM. The instrument was delivered to the station aboard the Progress MS-33 cargo ship in March 2026, and was expected to operate on the exterior of the station for two years.

Secondly, the cosmonauts will retrieve a cassette with a thin layer of semi-conducting material which was produced from gallium arsenide under conditions of deep vacuum in the course of the Ekran-M experiment. For that task, the ERA arm (INSIDER CONTENT) will carry a cosmonaut toward the experiment location on the Nauka module.

The spacewalkers will also remove from the exterior of the Poisk module a container with bacteria, seeds and other organisms from the Biorisk experiment, which was exposed to space conditions for nearly five years.

If time allows, the cosmonauts will attempt to photograph and secure in place a Kurs-NA rendezvous antenna, which failed to deployed aboard the Progress MS-33 cargo ship during its approach to the station in March. The spacecraft is docked to the zenith port of the Poisk module.

At the start of the spacewalk, mission control displayed the following timeline for VKD-66 on May 27, 2026:

14:25 - 15:10 Moscow Time: Equipment setup, hatch closure (between MIM2 and SM);
15:10 – 17:09 Moscow Time: Entering space suits; (Internal) airlock operations;
17:09 – 17:15 Moscow Time: MIM2 egress hatch opening;
17:15 – 22:45 Moscow Time: VKD-66 spacewalk operations;
22:42 – 22:45 Moscow Time: Closure of the MIM2 ingress hatch;
22:45 – 23:45 Moscow Time: Airlock re-pressurization.

Cosmonauts begin VKD 66

Kud'-Sverchkov and Mikaev were reported switching their suits to internal power and diconnecting their outside power supply cables between 17:08 and 17:10 Moscow Time (10:08 – 10:10 a.m. EDT). The cosmonauts were reported opening the egress hatch of the Poisk module at 17:18 Moscow Time (10:18 a.m. EDT). Mikaev was first out of Poisk at around 17:24 Moscow Time, just minutes before the ISS entered an orbital sunrise. The first task for the cosmonauts was to extract the Solntse-Teragerts experiment from Poisk, which was completed by around 17:30 Moscow Time. The cosmonauts spent first half an hour outside Poisk taking commemorative photos with various items marking the 80th anniversary since the foundation of RKK Energia.

The cosmonauts then began a transfer to the Zvezda Service Module for the installation of Solntse-Tergetrts experiment at around 17:55 Moscow Time (10:55 a.m. EDT). To clear the way for the cosmonauts, mission control commanded a pair of solar panels on the service module to rotate. During the translation, Kud'-Sverchkov noticed that the cover slipped from the Solntse-Teragerts experiment, which prompted the cosmonauts to pause around 18:10 Moscow Time, some 50 minutes into their spacewalk to fix the cover.

By 18:13 Moscow Time, the cosmonauts reached their workspace on service module and mission control gave them go ahead to open Patch Panel No. 19 for power connection of the Solntse-Teragerts equipment. Around one hour five minutes into the spacewalk, power connections of the telescope to Plates 19-1 and 19-4 was reported. The cosmonauts then moved to a pre-positioned rotating plaform on the Zvezda for the installation of the telescope itself.

As the cosmonauts were awaiting sunrise at around 18:55 Moscow Time, the ERA arm (INSIDER CONTENT) was monitoring their work in preparation for a transfer of one of the spacewalkers to the next work site on the Nauka module. Just moments before sunrise, the crew was cleared for installation of the telescope.

The instrument was reported installed at around 19:00 Moscow Time (12 p.m. EDT). The spacewalkers then routed cables for the attachment to the telescope on its movable DPN platform. The connections on the platform were completed by around 19:35 Moscow Time, when mission control confirmed a good contact and instructed the spacewalkers to remove protective covers from the telescope. The cosmonauts were then instructed to make close-up and overview photos of all the newly made connections.

At around 19:45 Moscow Time, mission control informed the spacewalkers that the ERA arm would now be maneuvered closer to their location before the coming sunset at 19:55 Moscow Time, so it would be ready for picking spacewalkers for a ride to Nauka. A minute before the sunset, the arm was around 1.5 meters from the service module. As the sun was setting, the spacewalkers were guiding the final movements of the arm into position. At 20:04 Moscow Time, the arm was reported to be in position and mission control instructed its operator to put in the stand-by mode. At 20:10 Moscow Time, the spacewalkers reported that they were ready for a translation. The motion started a couple of minutes later, as the station was moving over the Indian Ocean, around 2 hours and 55 minutes into the VKD-66 spacewalk and 16 minutes before the next sunrise.

The arm smoothly brought the pair to Nauka at around 20:20 Moscow Time (1:20 p.m. EDT). It then switched to small five-centimeter incremental moves to precisely position itself for cosmonauts' disembarking. Around 20:25 Moscow Time, the cosmonauts were authorized to move to the module, while watching carefully their movements to avoid hitting Nauka's equipment.

The cosmonauts then positioned themselves around the opened chamber of the KNA MLE experiment to remove one of its cassettes. The spacewalkers had to use special pliers to catch a lose metal ring, which apparently floated away from the KNA experiment. Mission control then asked the spacewalkers to monitor the motion of the mechanism inside the KNA container, as the commands to it were sent from the ground around 20:50 Moscow Time. These commands failed to move the mechanisms, as did previous efforts to activate the device, mission control told the spacewalkers, requiring the spacewalk managers to improvise a new plan.

As the VKD-66 spacewalk was approaching its four-hour mark, the cosmonauts starting running slightly behind schedule. They got the disk from the KNA experiment into the bag at around 21:10 Moscow Time (2:10 p.m. EDT). Next, the spacewalkers had to remove the protective cap from Cassette No. 2 of the experiment, before removing the cassette itself. With minimal effort, they were able to remove the protective cover from the cassette at around 21:18 Moscow Time. As the cosmonaut struggled with the mechanism, the station plunged into darkness again at 21:28 Moscow Time. After securing the cassette, the spacewalkers put a food trash bag, KPO, onto the device, according to an improvised plan relayed to them from the ground. A partially packed device was then removed from the main unit of the KNA experiment at around 21:35 Moscow Time. The spacewalkers then improvised a secure tethering of the bag with wire ties for a safe return into the station. Next, the cap went back on the empty cassette holder as the VKD-66 approached 4.5 hours. Finally, the trash bag with the container was wired to the crew lock back, which itself was tethered to Mikaev.

In the remaining night period until 22:03 Moscow Time, the crew was advised to take a short break before embarking on the return trip from Nauka to Poisk.

The spacewalkers got back at the anchor point of the Strela boom on the transfer section of the service module and extended from Poisk at around 22:10 Moscow Time, as the station was back in daylight. After a short dash along the Strela, the pair was back at Poisk at 22:18 Moscow Time and five hours into their spacewalk.

At Poisk, the pair first headed to the docking port connecting the module with the Progress MS-33 cargo ship, where they used wire ties to secure the failed antenna in its undeployed position, after which they took some photos and videos of the failed deployment mechanism at around 22:40 Moscow Time. Finally, the spacewalkers switched to the removal of the Biorisk containers, which was completed successfully before 22:50 Moscow Time, after which the cosmonauts went to final operations of the spacewalk, including ejection of some towels and window-cleaning tools gathered into one bundle from the previous and the latest spacewalks and then thrown out into space at 23:00 Moscow Time.

The cosmonauts reentered the Poisk module at around 23:10 Moscow Time and closed the ingress hatch at around 23:23 Moscow Time (4:23 p.m. EDT).

This page is maintained by Anatoly Zak; last update: May 27, 2026

Page editor: Alain Chabot; last edit: May 27, 2026