Russian Cosmonauts Prokopyev, Petelin Return to ISS After 7-Hour Spacewalk

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In this photo provided by NASA, backdropped against clouds over Earth, the International Space Station is seen from Space Shuttle Discovery as the two orbital spacecraft accomplish their relative separation on March 7, 2011InternationalIndiaAfricaMOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin have returned to the International Space Station (ISS) after a spacewalk that lasted more than seven hours, Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said on Thursday. “The exit hatch is closed! Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin spent 7 hours and 11 minutes outside the ISS,” Roscosmos said in a statement. During the spacewalk, the cosmonauts moved the air lock from the Rassvet Mini-Research Module 1, where it had been since the module’s launch to the ISS, to the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module using European Robotic Arm manipulator joint system. Prokopyev and Petelin prepared the air lock for the transportation, while another Russian cosmonaut, Andrey Fedyaev, was operating the manipulator from the inside of the ISS. WorldNASA Chief: ISS Expected to Deorbit Between 2030-3128 April, 02:02 GMTThe next spacewalk of Russian cosmonauts Prokopyev and Petelin is scheduled in about a week, a senior official at RSC Energia, the Russian state company in charge of the orbital outpost’s construction, said.