Today, two astronauts will be conducting a fairly standard spacewalk on the outside of the International Space Station, but the pair of spacewalkers is a bit unusual. The duo consists of cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of Russia’s Roscosmos and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency, spacefarers from two countries that do not typically conduct spacewalks together.
The timing of the spacewalk comes amid strained relations between Russia and the European Union over the former’s decision to invade Ukraine. The invasion hasn’t had a significant impact on operations on the ISS, as NASA, the European Space Agency, and Roscosmos have continued to work together — in space and on Earth — to keep the space station running.
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