Russian and European astronauts are making a rare joint spacewalk

Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut with the European Space Agency, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemiev entered the vacuum of space in their fluffy white spacesuits before 11 a.m. ET and are expected to spend about seven hours working to install a 36-foot-long robotic arm on one of the modules of the space station.

Spacewalks are a routine endeavor on the ISS, but they usually involve two Americans or Europeans, an American and a European, or two Russians working together. The last time a European astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut left the ISS together wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits was in April 1999, according to NASA. (An American and a Russian also did a joint spacewalk in 2009.)

Thursday’s spacewalk is the first for Cristoforetti and the sixth for Artemiev. Their joint venture comes as tensions on Earth between Russia and the United States and its allies have reached a fever pitch amid the war in Ukraine, although NASA has repeatedly said the conflict has not affected cooperation in space.

This marks the third spacewalk ISS astronauts have carried out to work on the installation of Europe’s robotic arm, which will be able to move objects in and out of the space station for maintenance and even inspect the exterior of the space station using onboard cameras . The arm — which will be the third robotic limb attached to the ISS and the only one capable of reaching the Russian-controlled part of the space station — attaches to the outside of the Russian space station’s new module, called Science.

Artemiev and Cristoforetti began their spacewalk Thursday by deploying “ten nanosatellites designed to collect data from radio electronics.” Since the space station is already moving at orbital speeds, deploying satellites is as easy as throwing them in one direction or another.

The spacewalk is the sixth performed on the ISS so far in 2022, and the 251st overall. Astronauts routinely leave the station to maintain the station’s exterior, install new hardware, or conduct science experiments.

ESA is streaming the spacewalk live on ESA Web TV on Thursday. Viewers can spot Cristoforetti by the blue stripes on her space suit, while Artemiev wears red stripes.