While cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov are preparing for the spacewalk scheduled for November 18 aboard the ISS their colleagues Oleg Novitsky and Piotr Dubrov are practising EVA in Hydrolaboratory on GCTC premises.
Novitsky and Dubrov have already accomplished EVA-51 and EVA-52 operations on the surface of Nauka module mock-up.
Operations to be conducted on the outer surface of the ISS will be related to the integration of Nauka module into Russian segment of the ISS, – GCTC EVA instructor Valery Nesmeyanov explains. – Both operations involve European ERA manipulator that is to be set to the working position.
Future ISS-65 commander Oleg Novitsky has already been to space twice but it will be his first EVA experience. The cosmonauts are being trained for their future EVA on the basis of Hydrolaboratory that enables to simulate conditions 90% similar to real EVA. About 40 various specialists are involved in hydrolab training including medical specialists, engineers, operators, instructors and divers.
