Two Russian cosmonauts at the International Space Station (ISS) began a spacewalk on Thursday, the Mission Control Center outside Moscow said, Xinhua reported.
The spacewalk, started at 01:05 p.m. Moscow time (1005 GMT) and will last for about six hours, is intended to prepare new docking port.
Astronauts Maxim Surayev and Oleg Kotov will run cables for the integration of the Poisk study module into the Zvezda service module, as well as install antennas, valves and railings on the Poisk, said Valery Lyndin, the spokesman for the Mission Control.
The crew will also dismantle containers with biological material from the outside of the Pirs docking module, Lyndin said, adding that the containers have been exposed to space for over a year and a half.
Lyndin also said the spacewalk is made in the new Russian Orlan-MK space suits that were unveiled last summer.