Russian astronauts will go on three spacewalks from the International Space Station (ISS) this year; next time in August, Energia Corporation scientific and technological center head Alexander Kaleri told reporters on Tuesday.

"We have tasks for three spacewalks but that will depend on the preparedness of the hardware. So far, we plan one spacewalk in addition to today's [the spacewalk of astronauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky] and decisions regarding other spacewalks will be made depending on the readiness of the appropriate hardware. The spacewalk I have mentioned is so far scheduled for August," Kaleri said.

Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, members of the new ISS expedition which begins in March, are expected to go on a spacewalk in August, the Energia representative said.

In his words, that will be the first spacewalk in their career.

The main task of the August spacewalk is to install a phased array antenna, Kaleri said.

"The antenna is an element of the integral command telemetric system; it will provide operations via a re-transmitter satellite. The purpose is to test the new radio system," the Energia executive said.

Skvortsov and Artemyev are already preparing for their spacewalk, Kaleri said.

Source: Voice of Russia