Russian cosmonauts take spacewalk

Two Russian cosmonauts have floated outside the International Space Station to prepare the orbital outpost for a new module and beef up its living quarters against micrometeorite and debris impacts.
The two, Gennady Padalka and Yuri Malenchenko opened the hatch on the station’s Pirs airlock at 15:37 GMT to begin a 6.5 hours spacewalk. The spacewalk was delayed about an hour while engineers assessed a leak or leaks between Pirs and Russian segments of the station.
Engineers monitored pressure readings in the modules for several minutes before clearing the cosmonauts to proceed with the spacewalk. The two’s tasks include relocating a construction crane, installing debris shields and releasing a small satellite into orbit.