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Russian cosmonaut Vinogradov became oldest spacewalker
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On April 19-20, 2013 Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko performed a 6 hour and 37 minute spacewalk. The EVA was performed from the Russian "Poisk” module of the ISS. The hatches was opened at 18:03 Moscow time. The spacewalk lasted longer than the initially planned six hours because during the installation of the Obstanovka experiment package on the station's Zvezda service module, one unit failed to switch on. Later the problem was solved. Obstanovka will study plasma waves and the effect of space weather on the Earth's ionosphere. The cosmonauts also retrieved the second container from the Biorisk experiment, which studied the effect of microbes on spacecraft structures, and replaced a reflector device that will facilitate the docking of the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 when it arrives at the orbital outpost in June. During a final task, Vinogradov, one of the most experienced cosmonauts in the Russian space program and at 59 the oldest man to walk in space, lost control of a materials science space exposure experiment panel after retrieving it from the hull of the station. The panel floated away behind the lab complex and was quickly lost in space. It was the 7th EVA for Vinogradov and the 1st one for Romanenko.
