“Battery abnormality.” Astronauts failed to complete their work in space

Roscosmos reported on its Telegram channel that Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemiev and Denis Matveev completed their spacewalk ahead of schedule. The decision to return to the International Space Station was made by Mission Control.

“The team is in good health. The state company said the ongoing work will be completed during the next spacewalks,” he said.

Artemyev, who was previously TASS’s special correspondent, had to complete the spacewalk due to problems with his spacesuit.

“Oleg, this is a very low voltage, you need to return it urgently. Because if the battery is completely dead, not only the pump, but also the fan can be disconnected,” he said.

After that, the cosmonaut “returned to the airlock and attached to the halyard to power the suit” (Artemyev used the red-striped Orlan-MKS No. 5).

Roscosmos explained that the cause of the incident was “an anomaly in the operation of the battery in the spacesuit.”

The state company added that the situation is being controlled by MCC. It was noted that nothing threatened the health of the astronaut.

After the Artemievs, Denis Matveev, the blue-striped Orlan-MKS No. Wearing 4, he returned to the airlock.

“Denis, we are starting to move towards the airlock. Do not rush. Move under the cameras to the packaging, we will take the packaging with us there, ”said an expert from the Mission Control Center.

Artemiev and Matveev went into space through the exit hatch of the ISS’s Poisk module. As part of Russia’s non-vehicle activity program, they will prepare to operate the remotely controlled European manipulator ERA, serving the Russian segment.

To make the arm lighter, they had to install two TV cameras and separate the starting rings from the two ERA end effectors. In addition, the cosmonauts had to move the external console and test the control of the manipulator, and if there was time, they performed a few more tasks, including replacing the frame with safety glasses on one of the video cameras.

All the actions of the astronauts were broadcast live from 16:20 Moscow time.

The duration of the spacewalk was supposed to be about seven hours, but it ended after almost four hours. In 2022, this was the fifth spacewalk for Russian cosmonauts.

The last time off-vehicle work was carried out on the night of 21-22 July. Then Artemyev and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti went into space. They spent more than seven hours outside of the ISS. During this time, Artemiev and Cristoforetti launched 10 nano-satellites, removed the adapter platforms from the Poisk module and transported them to Nauka. The ERA adapter is set to “Search” by switching the control panel to storage mode.