Russian pair carry out spacewalk

Two cosmonauts have walked outside the International Space Station to complete a small list of work.

The Russians were tasked with installing a new high-speed data transmission system, removing a faulty plasma pulse experiment, and installing a camera for the new Rassvet docking module.

Flight Engineers Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka were outside for six hours in what was the 27th spacewalk for the Russian Space Station.

Their first task was to deploy the antenna for the Radio Technical System for Information Transfer, a system designed to enable large data files to be downlinked from the Russian segment of the station. Nasa already has a similar system in place.

The spacewalkers removed a faulty plasma pulse generator that was installed to investigate disturbances and changes in the ionosphere.

The cosmonauts also grabbed the new docking camera for the Rassvet module.

The pair are scheduled to conduct their next Russian spacewalk on February 16, which will focus on installation of two more scientific experiments focusing on earthquake predictions and thunderstorm conditions.