Article Posted on : - Feb 17, 2011

Cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev installs the Molniya-Gamma experiment outside the Zvezda service module. A NASA TV photo

MOSCOW (BNS): Two Russian cosmonauts have completed a spacewalk during which they have installed a pair of earthquake and lightning sensing equipment in the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS).

The spacewalk by Flight Engineers Dmitry Kondratiev and Oleg Skripochka on Wednesday lasted for four hours and 51 minutes, according to NASA.

Wearing the Russian Orlan-MK spacesuits, the duo installed a pair of equipment outside the Zvezda service module.

The equipment will be used for conducting two experiments.

The Molniya-Gamma experiment will observe radiation emitted during Earth-bound lightning and thunderstorms. The second experiment, Radiometria, will collect seismic information to better predict earthquakes.

The cosmonauts also retrieved two Komplast panels from the exterior of the Zarya module. The panels contained materials exposed to space, and are part of a series of international experiments looking for the best materials to use in building long-duration spacecraft.

This was the second spacewalk conducted by the two cosmonauts this year.

Earlier on January 21, the duo had conducted a spacewalk and installed a new high-speed data transmission system, removed an old plasma pulse experiment, installed a camera for the new Rassvet docking module and retrieved a materials exposure package.

That spacewalk had lasted 5 hours, 23 minutes, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos.