CAPE CANAVERAL: Two Russians took a spacewalk on Wednesday to install fresh experiments outside the International Space Station and gather biological samples stuck outside for years.

First, cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko and Sergey Volkov gave a ceremonial send-off to a flash drive containing special messages for their motherland. The videos and messages relate to the 70th anniversary of Russia’s Victory Day last year. The flash drive was attached to a small bundle stuffed with towels to provide some bulk.

“There it goes”, Volkov said in Russian as he tossed the package overboard. “Just beautiful”, he noted as it spun slowly, appearing to tumble toward Earth. “That’s perfect, guys”, Russian Mission Control radioed from outside Moscow.

NASA said the jettisoned package would pose no hazard to the orbiting lab. With that accomplished, the spacewalkers set off to retrieve biological samples that have been outdoors seven years, and put out some new science trays. They also planned to test a new glue that might prove useful in years to come on the station’s exterior.

NASA, meanwhile, is still trying to understand why water leaked into a US astronaut’s helmet last month.

The Jan 15 spacewalk had to be cut short because of the problem, a repeat of what happened to an Italian spacewalker in 2013.

That first incident was considerably more serious, involving much more water leakage.

The Russians use different types of suits, so the problem was not expected to resurface.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2016