--- title: "Cosmonaut Ghost Rides 37-Foot Robotic Arm Outside Space Station" description: "Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev went for a ride on a robotic arm outside the International Space Station after outfitting it with a work platform." date: "2023-08-10" modified: "2023-08-10" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cosmonaut-rides-robotic-arm-space-station" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "international space station" - "Roscosmos" - "space" - "the digest" --- # Cosmonaut Ghost Rides 37-Foot Robotic Arm Outside Space Station ![Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev went for a ride on a robotic arm outside the International Space Station after outfitting it with a work platform.]() *\Image: NASA / Futurism\* ## Arm Strong On Wednesday, a Russian cosmonaut hitched a ride on a robotic arm installed on the outside of the International Space Station, during a [six and a half hour spacewalk](). In doing so, our [ghost riding]() cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev became the first to test ride the European Robotic Arm (ERA), which was controlled by compatriot Dmitri Petelin from inside its module. The 37-foot arm was installed on the ISS in 2021 as part of Russia's Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module, to rival the capabilities of the sturdy North American workhorse Canadarm2, which is nearly 58 feet long. Though its primary purpose is to move heavy payloads outside the Russian part of the ISS, until today its human-ferrying capabilities were unproven. Such was the purpose of this latest spacewalk, during which a portable work platform was outfitted at the end of ERA. Prokopyev demonstrated that, with the work platform installed, the robotic arm can reliably be used to position cosmonauts during future missions. ## Routine Maintenance Some much-needed maintenance was also in order. Before affixing the portable work platform and test riding ERA, the cosmonauts installed three debris shields on the Russian Rassvet module of the ISS, protecting it against stray micrometeoroids. The shields cover exposed areas of the module where an airlock and a radiator were removed. To close out the spacewalk, the cosmonauts carefully jettisoned several pieces of debris, including protective covers and launch restraints used to secure the the work platform before it was installed. With the trash taken care of, that spelled the end of the over six-hour mission, and both cosmonauts re-entered the space station. This marked the 267th spacewalk completed for assembly and maintenance purposes aboard the ISS, and the tenth this year. For the cosmonauts, it's now the eighth spacewalk completed by Prokopyev, and the sixth for Petelin. **More on:** *[International Space Station Suffers Comms Blackout Due to Power Outage]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()