Two Roscosmos cosmonauts performed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on May 27, 2026, to install scientific equipment and complete maintenance tasks.
Event Details
Expedition 74 commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and flight engineer Sergei Mikaev exited the station on May 27, 2026. The extravehicular activity (EVA) began at 10:18 a.m. EDT and concluded at 4:23 p.m. EDT, lasting 6 hours and 5 minutes.
This was the second spacewalk of 2026. The first was conducted by NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams on March 18, 2026. This was Kud-Sverchkov's second career spacewalk and Mikaev's first. Kud-Sverchkov's total spacewalk time is now 12 hours and 11 minutes. Kud-Sverchkov wore a spacesuit with red stripes; Mikaev wore one with blue stripes.
Primary Tasks
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Solar Experiment Installation: The cosmonauts installed the Solntse-Teragerts telescope on the exterior of the Zvezda service module. The instrument is designed to observe solar flares and collect data for prediction models. It is expected to operate through 2028.
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Sample Retrieval: Using the European Robotic Arm (ERA), the crew retrieved a cassette from the Ekran-M molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) experiment on the Nauka module. The cassette contains semiconducting material produced in microgravity. The retrieval process encountered difficulties, including lost pliers and failed ground commands, but the sample was collected successfully.
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Antenna Inspection: The cosmonauts inspected, photographed, and secured one of the Kurs rendezvous antennas on the Progress MS-33 cargo spacecraft. The antenna failed to deploy during launch in March, leading to a manual docking.
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Biorisk Container Retrieval: A Biorisk science container holding samples of bacteria, seeds, and other organisms was retrieved.
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Other Activities: The crew jettisoned a bundle of used window cleaners and posed for a photograph holding a card commemorating the 80th anniversary of RSC Energia.
Coverage and Context
NASA provided live coverage of the spacewalk beginning at 9:45 a.m. EDT on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and NASA's YouTube channel. This event was the 279th spacewalk supporting station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
All planned activities were reported as successfully completed.