Russian Cosmonauts Take Spacewalk To Upgrade ISS Antenna

The International Space Station is tasked with performing scientific research that would be impossible on Earth. (file photo)

Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Aleksandr Misurkin made a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk on February 2 to upgrade an antenna at the International Space Station (ISS).

Their task was to replace an old electronics box for the main antenna on the Russian side of the space station.

The high-gain antenna supports communication between Russian flight controllers and the Russian modules of the orbital outpost, a NASA statement said.

It's the second spacewalk in as many weeks. On January 23, two U.S. astronauts went out to give a new hand to the station's big robotic arm.

NASA had planned another spacewalk this week, but postponed it until mid-February because of a software problem that is being corrected.

More than 200 spacewalks have been conducted at the station over its decade and a half of continuous operation.

The station, which orbits at an altitude of about 400 kilometers, is tasked with performing scientific research that would be impossible on Earth.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa