Expedition 54 Commander Alexander Misurkin and Flight Engineer Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos began a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk when they opened the hatch of the Pirs docking compartment of the International Space Station at 10:34 a.m. EST.
Both spacewalkers are wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits with blue stripes. Misurkin is designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1) for this spacewalk, the fourth of his career. Shkaplerov, embarking on his second spacewalk, is extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2).
Coverage of the spacewalk continues on NASA Television and the agency’s website. Views from a camera on Misurkin’s helmet are designated with the number 20, and Shkaplerov’s is labeled with the number 18.
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Hi. I’m watching the Russian Spacewalk at the International Space Station. It’s awesome to be able to see them in action. But why is it, when they are outside & the camera shows a view of space, it’s all black? There are no stars visible? I saw the earth (blurry) at one point but no stars.
It has to do with the focus and exposure of the camera. The stars are too far and too dim to see due to the brightness of the Earth and station in orbital daylight. The station also has lights to guide the spacewalkers in orbital darkness which also prevents the video camera from picking up the stars. However, in this time-lapse video sequence you can clearly see stars from the station during orbital darkness… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArHwh3xkEa8