A spacewalk by two Russians on Wednesday was ended abruptly due to a problem with the battery in cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev's suit, though at no point was he in any danger, the U.S. and Russian space agencies said.
"Oleg, you must return to the airlock as soon as possible," the Earth-based Russian mission controllers ordered, more than two hours into his trip outside the International Space Station (ISS).
"Drop everything and go back," he was told multiple times, according to a live English translation broadcast by NASA.
The orders came soon after Artemyev reported abnormal voltage readings for his spacesuit's battery.
"Please do not worry, everything is fine. You are OK," the controllers said.
"Me? Worry? No way," responded 51-year-old Artemyev, who took over the commander position of the ISS in May from American astronaut Thomas Marshburn.
Artemyev made his way back into the airlock where he successfully reconnected to the ISS's main power.
He then waited for the second cosmonaut, Denis Matveyev, to gather all the supplies they had used on their mission, reenter and pressurize the airlock.
The spacewalk was declared finished after about four hours.
"The situation is under control... The health of the cosmonaut is not in danger," Roscomos said in a statement afterward.
"The crew is doing well," the Russian space agency added, noting that any uncompleted work will be finished later on.
Before the battery issue, the two cosmonauts installed two cameras outside the ISS.
"The duo was never in any danger during the operations," NASA said in a blogpost.
Wednesday's mission was the seventh spacewalk for Artemyev and the third for Matveyev.
Water may have been brought to Earth by asteroids from the outer edges of the solar system, scientists said after analysing rare samples collected on a six-year Japanese space mission.
In a new paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy on Monday, scientists said the samples from the asteroid Ryugu, brought back to earth in 2020, could give clues to the mystery of how oceans appeared on Earth billions of years ago.
"Volatile and organic-rich C-type asteroids may have been one of the main sources of Earth's water," said the study by scientists from Japan and other countries.
"The delivery of volatiles (that is, organics and water) to the Earth is still a subject of notable debate," it said.
But the organic materials found "in Ryugu particles, identified in this study, probably represent one important source of volatiles".
The scientists hypothesised that such material probably has an "outer Solar System origin", but said it was "unlikely to be the only source of volatiles delivered to the early Earth".
READ MORE: The Glass: Humanity one step closer to living in space
Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft arrives at the carbon-rich Ryugu asteroid between the orbits of Earth and Mars to bring back some samples which can provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth https://t.co/YRMkdKE22s
— TRT World (@trtworld) June 27, 2018
Hayabusa-2
The Ryugu samples, 5.4 grams (0.2 ounces) of rocks and dust, were gathered by a Japanese space probe called Hayabusa-2 that landed on the celestial body and fired an "impactor" into its surface.
Hayabusa-2 was launched in 2014 on its mission to Ryugu, around 300 million kilometres away, and returned to Earth's orbit two years ago to drop off a capsule containing the sample.
In the Nature Astronomy study, the researchers again hailed the findings made possible by the mission.
"Ryugu particles are undoubtedly among the most uncontaminated Solar System materials available for laboratory study and ongoing investigations of these precious samples will certainly expand our understanding of early Solar System processes," the study said.
Studies on the material are beginning to be published, and in June, one group of researchers said they had found organic material which showed that some of the building blocks of life on Earth, amino acids, may have been formed in space.
READ MORE: Why Jupiter doesn’t have a substantial ring system
Source: AFP
An Iranian satellite launched by Russia blasted off from Kazakhstan early Tuesday and went into orbit amid controversy that Moscow might use it to improve its surveillance of military targets in Ukraine.
A live feed from Russian space agency Roscosmos showed the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the Khayyam satellite from the Russia-controlled Baikonur cosmodrome at the scheduled time of 05:52 GMT.
The Russian mission control confirmed its subsequent entry into orbit.
Iran, which has maintained ties with Moscow and refrained from criticism of the Ukraine invasion, has sought to deflect suspicions that Moscow could use Khayyam to spy on Ukraine.
Last week, U.S. daily The Washington Post quoted anonymous Western intelligence officials as saying that Russia "plans to use the satellite for several months or longer" to assist its war efforts before allowing Iran to take control.
But the Iranian Space Agency said on Sunday that the Islamic republic would control the Khayyam satellite "from day one."
"No third country is able to access the information" sent by the satellite due to its "encrypted algorithm," it said.
The purpose of Khayyam is to "monitor the country's borders," enhance agricultural productivity and monitor water resources and natural disasters, the space agency said.
In a pre-launch statement on Monday ISA praised "the high reliability factor of the Soyuz launcher."
"Due to Khayyam satellite's weight of more than half a ton and the very high success rate of the Soyuz launcher, the launch of the Khayyam satellite has been entrusted to Russia," the statement on the space agency's website noted.
As Moscow's international isolation grows under the weight of Western sanctions over Ukraine, the Kremlin is seeking to pivot Russia towards the Middle East, Asia and Africa and find new clients for the country's embattled space program.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran last month -- one of his few trips abroad since the invasion began.
Khayyam, apparently named after the 11th-century Persian polymath Omar Khayyam, will not be the first Iranian satellite that Russia has put into space — in 2005, Iran's Sina-1 satellite was deployed from Russia's Plesetsk cosmodrome.
Iran is currently negotiating with world powers, including Moscow, to salvage a 2015 deal aimed at reining in Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The United States — which quit the landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA under then-president Donald Trump in 2018 — has accused Iran of effectively supporting Russia's war against Ukraine while adopting a "veil of neutrality."
During his meeting with Putin last month, Iran's Khamenei called for "long-term cooperation" with Russia, and Tehran has refused to join international condemnation of Moscow's invasion of its pro-Western neighbor.
Iran insists its space program is for civilian and defence purposes only, and does not breach the 2015 nuclear deal, or any other international agreement.
Western governments worry that satellite launch systems incorporate technologies interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, something Iran has always denied wanting to build.
Iran successfully put its first military satellite into orbit in April 2020, drawing a sharp rebuke from the United States.
