A single mistake could be catastrophic
High above the Earth on May 27, two Russian cosmonauts ventured into the void to tend to the aging yet enduring International Space Station — a reminder that the maintenance of humanity's most ambitious shared outpost is not a triumph achieved once, but a discipline practiced continuously. Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, representing Roscosmos aboard Expedition 74, spent five hours installing scientific instruments and retrieving hardware, adding their effort to a lineage of 278 spacewalks stretching back to the station's first inhabited days in the year 2000. In the silence of orbit, the work of keeping a fragile human presence alive among the stars goes quietly on.
- Two cosmonauts stepped outside the ISS into the vacuum of space for a five-hour operation, with the entire world able to watch live via NASA's broadcast.
- The mission carried real stakes — precision installation of a solar radiation experiment on the Zvezda module, alongside hardware removal from Poisk and Nauka, where a single misstep in the unforgiving environment of orbit could prove catastrophic.
- For flight engineer Mikaev, this was his first-ever spacewalk, while commander Kud-Sverchkov guided the operation with the experience of having done it before — their suits color-coded in red and blue so ground crews could tell them apart.
- A secondary objective loomed in the background: if time allowed, the pair would photograph a failed antenna from the Progress 94 cargo spacecraft, whose automatic deployment had mysteriously gone wrong in March.
- The excursion marked the second spacewalk of 2026, underscoring the relentless, unglamorous rhythm of maintenance that keeps humanity's orbital laboratory alive after more than two decades of continuous human habitation.
On the morning of May 27, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev suited up and stepped outside the International Space Station for a five-hour spacewalk beginning around 10:15 a.m. EDT. NASA broadcast the entire operation live, making the excursion visible to anyone with an internet connection.
Their primary tasks were methodical but demanding: installing a solar radiation experiment on the Zvezda service module and removing science hardware from the Poisk and Nauka modules as part of the station's ongoing maintenance cycle. Kud-Sverchkov, commanding Expedition 74, was on his second spacewalk; for Mikaev, it was his first time outside the station. The two were distinguished by their suits — red stripes for Kud-Sverchkov, blue for Mikaev.
If the main objectives were completed with time to spare, the cosmonauts had a secondary goal: photograph the failed antenna of the Progress 94 cargo spacecraft, which had not deployed as expected upon arrival in March. The images would help engineers on the ground diagnose the problem and plan any future repairs.
The outing was the second spacewalk of 2026, following a seven-hour NASA excursion in March. It brought the station's total to 278 spacewalks since continuous human occupation began on November 2, 2000 — each one a testament to the sustained, painstaking effort required to keep a human presence alive in orbit.
On the morning of May 27, two Russian cosmonauts suited up for a journey into the vacuum above Earth. Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, both working for Roscosmos, were scheduled to step outside the International Space Station for a five-hour excursion beginning around 10:15 a.m. EDT. The spacewalk would be visible to anyone with an internet connection—NASA was broadcasting the entire operation live, with coverage starting at 9:45 a.m. EDT for those who wanted to watch from the beginning.
Their mission had clear objectives. The two men would install a solar radiation experiment onto the Zvezda service module, one of the Russian segment's key components. They would also remove science hardware from two other modules—Poisk and Nauka—as part of the station's ongoing maintenance and upgrade cycle. These tasks, while routine in the context of orbital operations, required precision work in an environment where a single mistake could be catastrophic.
Kud-Sverchkov, who commands the current Expedition 74 mission aboard the station, was no stranger to this kind of work. This would be his second spacewalk. Mikaev, a flight engineer, was stepping outside the station for the first time in his career. To help ground crews and viewers track who was who during the operation, the cosmonauts wore distinctly marked suits—Kud-Sverchkov's bearing red stripes, Mikaev's blue.
If the primary tasks went smoothly and time permitted, the pair had a secondary objective: photograph a failed antenna from the Progress 94 cargo spacecraft. That antenna was supposed to deploy automatically when Progress 94 arrived at the station in March, but something went wrong. The photograph would help engineers on the ground understand what had happened and whether the problem needed to be addressed during a future spacewalk.
This May 27 excursion marked the second spacewalk of 2026. The first had occurred on March 18, when NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams spent seven hours outside the station installing components for a new solar array. The steady cadence of spacewalks—roughly one every few months—reflects the constant work required to keep the orbiting laboratory functioning. Since the station began continuous human occupation on November 2, 2000, astronauts and cosmonauts have now conducted 278 spacewalks in total, each one a carefully choreographed dance between human skill and the unforgiving physics of space.
Citações Notáveis
The cosmonauts will install a solar radiation experiment on the Zvezda service module and remove other science hardware from the Poisk and Nauka modules— NASA officials describing the spacewalk objectives
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a solar radiation experiment need to be installed on the station? Can't they just study that from Earth?
The station orbits above most of the atmosphere, so it gets unfiltered exposure to solar radiation. Measuring it directly from that vantage point gives you data you simply can't get from the ground. It's about having instruments in the right place.
And Mikaev—this is his first time outside. How much of a risk is that?
It's managed risk. He's trained extensively, and he's paired with Kud-Sverchkov, who's done this before. The procedures are well-established. But yes, there's always an element of the unknown when you're doing something for the first time in a vacuum.
What happens if they run out of time and don't get to photograph that antenna?
Then engineers have to wait for the next spacewalk, or they work with whatever other data they have. It's not a mission-critical task—it's troubleshooting. But understanding what went wrong with Progress 94 helps them prevent similar problems in the future.
How often do these spacewalks actually happen?
Not as often as people might think. You're looking at maybe one every few months, sometimes longer between them. Each one requires enormous preparation—training, planning, coordination between multiple space agencies. It's not something you do casually.
Two hundred and seventy-eight spacewalks since 2000. That's a lot of people floating outside.
It is. And every single one of them was necessary. The station doesn't maintain itself. Without those spacewalks, the solar arrays wouldn't be upgraded, experiments wouldn't be installed, broken equipment wouldn't be fixed. It's invisible work, but it's what keeps the station alive.