Russian cosmonauts launch defective satellite from ISS

Russian cosmonauts launch defective satellite from ISS
2011-08-04 01:52:15

MOSCOW, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Two Russian cosmonauts manually launched a mini satellite from the International Space Station ( ISS) during a six-hour spacewalk Wednesday, said the Mission Control center near Moscow.

Sergei Volkov and Alexander Samokutyayev, who started the spacewalk with a 20-minute delay, found the 30-kg Kedr has lost one of its two antennas during its delivery to the ISS in January. After consulting with the Mission Control, they have decided to launch the device anyway, Interfax news agency reported.

The Kedr satellite, which was made by Russian students, was created to transmit from the orbit greetings in 15 languages about the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first space flight. It could also photograph the Earth and re-transmit information from the ISS equipment.

During the spacewalk, the cosmonauts were expected to install new stream video equipment on the station's outer surface, and to take pictures holding photos of the founders of Russian space explorations, including Konstantin Tsiolkovski, Sergei Korolyov and Yuri Gagarin.

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