Spacewalking cosmonauts launch satellite, set up studies
Spacewalking cosmonauts launch satellite, set up studies
By Irene Klotz
Mon Aug 18, 2014 3:49pm EDT
CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. - A pair of Russian cosmonauts began their work week on Monday floating outside the International Space Station to toss out a small satellite for a university in Peru, install science experiments and tackle some housekeeping chores.
First out of the hatch was cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, who stood on a ladder outside the station's Pirs airlock to release a 2.2-pound (1-kg), 4-inch (10-cm) cube-shaped satellite built by students at the National University of Engineering in Lima, Peru.
Video broadcast on NASA Television showed the satellite, called Chasqui-1, tumbling away from the back of the station as it sailed about 260 miles (418 km) above the southern Pacific Ocean.
The solar-powered spacecraft, whose name means "messenger" in the Quechua language of the Incas, is outfitted with visible light and infrared cameras to take pictures of Earth and sensors to measure temperature and pressure as it orbits.
More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/18/us-space-station-spacewalk-idUSKBN0GI1O220140818