Russian cosmonauts to go on spacewalk![]() August 20, 2012 - 11:41 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Yury Malenchenko, who are on the International Space Station (ISS), will on Monday, August 20 go on a spacewalk to carry out a number of maintenance tasks, according to the Moscow Region-based Mission Control Center. “Padalka and Malenchenko are expected to open the hatches at 18:40 Moscow Time [1440 GMT] and will return to the ISS at 01:05 Moscow Time on August 21 [2105 GMT Monday],” RIA Novosti quoted a Mission Control Center spokesman as saying. The cosmonauts will upgrade the space station’s exterior and bring inside a number of specimens from a docking module to later send them to Earth for research, the spokesman said. Partner news U.S. officials say they want to advance efforts to start talks between the Syrian government and opposition leaders. The international conference, backed by Russia and the U.S., aims to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria. Nuland, a career foreign service officer who was until recently State's top spokesperson, was expected to be nominated the post. Alkhatib said Assad should respond within 20 days and that he should then be given a month to dissolve parliament. Partner news |