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Cosmonauts perform second spacewalk in two weeks

On Oct. 28, 2025, members of Expedition 73 Sergei Ryzhikov and Aleksei Zubritsky worked on the exterior of the Russian ISS Segment, after having successfully completed the VKD-64 spacewalk 12 days earlier.

Previous spacewalk: VKD-64

VKD-65 spacewalk at a glance:

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Members of the Soyuz MS-27 crew practice spacewalk in the neutral buoyancy facility in Star City in late 2024.

Staged from the Poisk module, MIM2, the VKD-65 spacewalk had the goal of installing experiments on the exterior of the Russian Segment and of relocating of the external control console, EMMI, for the European Robotic Arm, ERA (INSIDER CONTENT).

The main task of the VKD-65 spacewalk was the installation of hardware for the second phase of the Impuls experiment on the exterior of the Nauka module. The experiment developed at Moscow Aviation Institute, MAI, consisted of two units — the Pulse Plasma Injector, IPI-500, to be mounted on the pre-installed adapter and the component for the Control of Vacuum and Electro-Physical Parameters, KV EFP, to be installed on the opposite side of Nauka, not far from its main window.

Designed to operate in conjunction with a control system developed at the Moscow-based NPO IT company, the Impuls instrument was intended to study the propagation of plasma generated by electric propulsion through the ionosphere of the Earth. It was also designed to test "electromagnetic compatibility of the plasma injector with onboard systems of the station," according to TASS.

The instrument was to be activated on commands from Earth during such events as magnetic and solar storms.

The cosmonaut duo also has a window cleaning assignment on the ball-shaped Pressurized Adapter, GA, (INSIDER CONTENT) of the Nauka module. Other tasks included the replacement of a cassette in the Ekran-M unit that had been installed on the Nauka's exterior during the VKD-64 spacewalk, and had been expected to produce its first semiconductor materials using the Molecular Beam Epitaxy, MBE, method.

According to Russian mission control in Korolev, the EMMI console was to be relocated to the SBT area on Nauka and fixed at handrail No. 4401, without a power connection.

Due to the arrival of Japan's HTV-X cargo ship at the ISS, scheduled for Oct. 29, 2025, all trash discarding activities during the VKD-65 spacewalk had been ruled out, NASA said.

At the start of the spacewalk, mission control displayed the following timeline for VKD-65 on October 28, 2025:

• 14:30 - 15:15 Moscow Time: Equipment setup, entering space suits;
• 15:15 – 17:12 Moscow Time: (Internal) hatch closure (between MIM2 and SM), airlock operations;
• 17:12 – 17:18 Moscow Time: MIM2 egress hatch opening;
• 17:18 – 23:50 Moscow Time: VKD-65 spacewalk operations;
• 23:47 – 23:50 Moscow Time: Closure of the MIM2 ingress hatch;
• 23:50 – 00:50 Moscow Time: Airlock re-pressurization.

Cosmonauts perform VKD-65 spacewalk

Sergei Ryzhikov and Aleksei Zubritsky completed airlock operations roughly on time and at around 17:05 Moscow Time, they were instructed to switch their Orlan suits to internal power. According to NASA, the hatch was opened at 9:18 a.m. Houston time (17:18 Moscow Time), marking the start of the VKD-65, according to Russian tradition. Zubristky was the first to get outside, followed by Ryzhikov, after he had transferred all the necessary equipment to Zubritsky.

Several minutes later (at 17:29:31 Moscow Time), the ISS flew into orbital sunrise, facilitating the monitoring of the spacewalk activities. On the way to the first work location, the spacewalkers transferred to the Strela boom, extended from Poisk to Nauka. Sliding along Strela, the cosmonauts reached Nauka around 17:42 Moscow Time, but then had to undertake a difficult trek around the module's deployed radiator panel (INSIDER CONTENT) to the first installation site of the IPI-500 equipment. The cosmonauts also struggled with turning on Ryzhikov's helmet camera, which had finally started beaming images under an hour into the spacewalk. The duo reached the installation point (BTL4 adapter on Nauka) soon after 18:00 Moscow Time. They attached the plasma injector unit to the adapter at around 18:15 Moscow Time, or roughly an hour into the VKD-65 spacewalk. Soon thereafter, mission control warned Zubritsky that he was too close to one of Nauka's solar panels.

The station entered the first orbital sunset during the VKD-65 spacewalk at around 18:25 Moscow Time, while the cosmonauts proceeded with unwinding and connecting a series of cables from the IPI experiment to patch panels No. 10 and No. 11 on Nauka under the lights of their helmet cameras. Despite minor complications, the cosmonauts were reported a few minutes ahead of their spacewalk timeline at the time.

The power connections were completed at around 18:40 Moscow Time. Mission control then instructed the cosmonauts to use special wire ties to secure some slack in their respective cables to handrails. Careful mission controllers then noticed that Ryzhikov had removed the wrong cap from one of the cables to be connected, but just in time to remedy this error.

Around 1.5 hours into the spacewalk (or 18:50 Moscow Time), as the cosmonauts were taking photos of the newly installed electric interfaces, before closing their thermal flaps, mission control reminded them to secure all the removed wire caps from electric outlets. This took quite a bit of time, as the cosmonauts struggled with entangled wires. "Knitting is not a manly thing," one of them joked. As the orbital sunrise came in after around 10 minutes, the cosmonauts completed the photography of the newly installed equipment. Soon after 19:00 Moscow Time, or around 1 hour 50 minutes into the VKD-65 spacewalk, mission control declared the installation of the main IPI-500 instrument completed. The spacewalkers were then instructed to head to the transfer compartment on Nauka, while being warned to be careful around the Nauka's thrusters.

After positioning themselves at the second work site, the spacewalkers proceeded with the installation of the second component of the IPI experiment — the KV EFP measuring unit. They had to use a wrench to install it. Once that was done, they had to connect two cables to the component. At around 19:30 Moscow Time, the cosmonauts reported that both connectors were in place. With 25 minutes of daylight remaining, mission control instructed the spacewalkers not to do the usual securing of cables, but to proceed with the window-cleaning operation. At round 19:35 Moscow Time, mission control warned the crew that the opening of the window shutter was in process.

At around 19:40 Moscow Time, the cosmonauts positioned themselves on two sides of Nauka's window. Zubritsky pulled cleaning tool No. 1 out of his bag and handed it to Ryzhikov. "My impression is it is absolutely clean on this (exterior) side," Ryzhikov noted. However, after a second look, he did admit seeing considerable contamination on the glass, as Ryzhikov was moving the brush in concentric circles from the center toward the periphery. Zubritsky then handed Ryzhikov the second brush, which he used to finish the procedure, as the cosmonauts had only five minutes left before the sunset. "Should I repeat it," Ryzhikov asked, and mission control responded with a request to do another run around the rim of the window.

Mission control then commanded the window to close at around 20:00 Moscow Time, exactly as the station was plunging into darkness. The cosmonauts were then advised to take a rest. They did confirm seeing the window cover moving. However, mission control then changed its mind, asking the cosmonauts to complete operations with the KV EFP control unit. Zubritsky switched to wiring electric caps, while Ryzhikov worked on the deployment of special sensor rods on the package. He reported removing protective covers from the two sensors on the newly installed instrument. Ryzhikov asked the ground whether to prepare the caps from the sensor rods for ejection or for bringing them inside. They settled on storing them in the crew bag, which would go inside with the cosmonauts at the end of the spacewalk.

At around 20:10 Moscow Time, mission control confirmed that all the connections with the second component of the IPI experiment had been performed as planned.

At around 20:20 Moscow Time, the cosmonauts reported pressing the button for the release of the sensor rods on the instrument. While in darkness, they then moved to the Ekran-M unit, where they found very tight space for work and they took a four-minute break until the next sunrise.

When the spacewalkers looked inside the opened Ekran-M unit, they found a loose rubber gasket in the container. After some discussion on the ground, mission control advised the spacewalkers to use tweezers to cut the loose piece of the gasket. After some maneuvering, Ryzhikov grabbed the offending line and before Zubritsky could cut it with his scissors from another side, Ryzhikov successfully pulled it out. However, while Ryzhikov was storing the gasket and tweezers, a small piece of material, which probably broke off from some of the internal instrumentation, was seen floating within the container, as the cosmonauts were finishing the cassette swapping.

At around 21:00 Moscow Time, mission control commanded the motion of the newly installed cassette into the working position and at around 21:15 Moscow Time, mission control commanded the cover of the experiment to close, nearly four hours into the spacewalk. However, the packing of the removed device into its transport container ran into obstacles, prompting the crew to try again, but they reported seeing a half-centimeter overlap in the clearance, which prevented the smooth insert. Ground control then instructed the crew to insert the cassette as deep as possible into its container before trying to find a way to fix it in place. The cosmonauts were advised to push on the cassette as hard as possible. All these efforts failed and the cosmonauts had to resort to securing the cassette in its container with wire ties. The makeshift operation was completed at around 21:45 Moscow Time. Around the same time, mission control advised one of the spacewalkers to turn off his helmet camera, due to its overheating. The struggle with the cassette consumed much of the cosmonauts time reserves, pushing the spacewalkers slightly behind schedule.

More than four hours into the VKD-65 spacewalk, the cosmonauts proceeded to the relocation of the ERA's external control panel. They disconnected and secured its cables by around 22:35 Moscow Time. The cosmonauts then took a short rest at around 22:40 Moscow Time.

After moving to handrail 4401, the cosmonauts first installed special tray adapters for the EMMI console. At around 23:00 Moscow Time, the cosmonauts reported that they were ready for the installation of the panel, which was completed in just a few minutes. "So, let's go home?" one of them was heard asking. However, mission control advised the cosmonauts to take a short break, stressing that they had "plenty of time." After around six hours on the exterior, the cosmonauts headed back to Poisk. By 11:20 Moscow Time, they got to the end of the Strela boom and were given the green light for the translation toward the airlock.

After completing routine inventory of equipment and suits' cleanup just outside the airlock hatch, the cosmonauts started reentering the Poisk module at around midnight Moscow Time on Oct. 29, 2025. The airlock hatch was reported closed at 00:12 Moscow Time, marking the completion of the 6-hour, 54-minute VKD-65 spacewalk. According to NASA, at the end of VKD-65, Ryzhikov had logged 19 hours 51 minutes in his three spacewalks and Zubritsky now had 13 hours 3 minutes of spacewalking experience.

This page is maintained by Anatoly Zak; last update: October 29, 2025

Page editor: Alain Chabot; updates: October 28, October 29, 2025

All rights reserved

Ryzhikov exits Poisk at the start of the VKD-65 spacewalk. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

The cosmonauts had to walk around Nauka's external radiator (INSIDER CONTENT) in order to reach the IMI installation site on the opposite end of the module. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

The cosmonauts install IPI-500 equipment on the Nauka module. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

Zubritsky aligns the main IPI package with an adapter on the Nauka module. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

The cosmonauts install the KV EFP unit for the Impuls experiment. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

A close-up view of the KV EFP unit (left) during its installation with the European Robotic Arm, the Ekran-M experiment, Zvezda Service Module and the Progress cargo ship on the background. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

Ryzhikov cleans the window on the GA compartment of the the Nauka module. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

Ryzhikov works at the Ekran-M unit as seen by a helmet camera on Zubritsky's spacesuit. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

Ryzhikov uses tweezers to pull out a loose ring from the Ekran-M unit. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

While Ryzhikov was removing a lose gasket from the Ekran-M container, Zubritsky was standing by with a set of pliers ready to cut it, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

Ryzhikov attempts to insert the cassette from the Ekran-M experiment into its container. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

Cosmonauts are relocating the EMMI control console for the European Robotic Arm during VKD-65. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA