According to Russian program the first extravehicular activity in which new ISS mission crew member Fyodor Yurchikhin will take part is planned for mid-June 2013.

Soyuz TMA-09M launch took place from “Gagarin” launchpad of Baikonur cosmodrome at 00.31 Moscow Time on May 29, 2013. Apart from Fyodor Yurchikhin the crew includes Caren Nyberg (NASA) and Luca Parmitano (ESA).

“Our mission is to perform 4 extravehicular activities; I will take part in 3 of them. The first activity is planned for mid-June and is concerned with functional cargo block temperature control system repairing and a series of scientific experiments”, – Yurchikhin said at the press-conference.

According to him during this EVA the cosmonauts will probably remove “Endurance” experiment platform from ISS outer surface. This experiment I aimed at exploration of space impact on mechanical characteristics of various materials.

“Other two activities are related to electric cable installation for new Russian MLM module (which is to be launched late 2013 – early 2014). Besides these activities also involve carrying out tests and experiment”, – the cosmonaut reported.
The cosmonaut noted that he won’t take part in the 4th EVA at the end of the mission.

Image credit – Roscosmos