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Russian and European astronauts complete rare joint spacewalk
Updated 22:04, 22-Jul-2022
CGTN
01:08

A Russian cosmonaut and an European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut worked together outside of the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday, according to NASA, marking the first time in 23 years a European participated in a Russian-operated spacewalk.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA entered the space for seven hours and installed a robotic arm on one of the space station's modules and deployed 10 nanosatellites designed to collect radio electronics data during the spacewalk.

This was the sixth spacewalk for Artemyev and the first for Cristoforetti, who has now become the fourth ESA astronaut and first European woman conducted a spacewalk in a Russian spacesuit, said NASA.

Spacewalks are a routine endeavor on the ISS, but they typically involve two Americans or Europeans, an American and a European, or two Russians working together, according to CNN.

The last time a European astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut left the ISS together was in April 1999.

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