International Space Station Crew Takes a Pre-Christmas Stroll in Space

Outside the International Space Station, Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov conducted a five hour, 38 minute spacewalk in Russian spacesuits on Dec. 22, 2008. The spacewalk included work to fasten and retrieve a series of materials sciences experiments on the Russian Zvezda service module and attach a probe to the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock. The probe measures electromagnetic activity around the Russian segment of the station believed to have contributed to problems with pyrotechnic bolts that allow the sections of the Soyuz spacecraft to separate during
its return to Earth.