2 Russians venture into open space from Space Station

Two Russian crewmembers on the International Space Station have begun a spacewalk to conduct scientific research and help maintain the orbiting outpost. Oleg Kononenko and Alexey Ovchinin will retrieve scientific experiments that were mounted on the station’s exterior and perform necessary maintenance.

The spacewalk is expected to last 6 hours. It’s the fifth one for Kononenko, and the first one for Ovchinin.

Their crewmates NASA’s Anne McClain, Nick Hague and Christina Koch, and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency are watching their progress from inside the orbiting outpost.

Kononenko is set to return to Earth with McClain and Saint-Jacques next month following a six-and-a-half-month stint in orbit. Ovchinin will replace him as the station’s commander.