Other tasks, if time is available, include installation of a materials science experiment package, collection of surface residue from the station's hull and installation of support struts for a Russian spacewalk ladder.
After depressurizing the Pirs compartment, the cosmonauts opened a hatch to the vacuum of space at 9:31 a.m. EST (GMT-5). They struggled briefly to secure a protective ring around the hatch opening and floated outside about 15 minutes later. This is the 162nd spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998 and the first of three expected in 2012, two by the Russians and one by NASA.
For identification, Kononenko, call sign EV-1, is using helmet camera No. 20 while Shkaplerov, EV-2, is using helmet cam No. 18. This is the third spacewalk for Kononenko, who logged 12 hours and 12 minutes of EVA time during an earlier stay aboard the station, and the first for Shkaplerov.
As usual during station spacewalks, the lab's four other crew members will be stationed near their respective Soyuz spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of a major problem that could force them to make an emergency departure.
Expedition 30 commander Daniel Burbank and Anatoly Ivanishin will be sealed inside the Poisk module, where Soyuz TMA-22 is docked, for the duration of the spacewalk. Donald Pettit and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers will be in the forward part of the station where they can access their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft docked to the Rassvet mini research module.
The first item on the agenda for Kononenko and Shkaplerov is to move one of two telescoping Strela cargo booms from the Pirs module on the Earth-facing side of the station to the Poisk module attached to the other side of the Zvezda command module. The manually operated cranes are used by spacewalkers to move equipment to different work sites on the Russian segment of the station.
A second Strela boom, also mounted on Pirs, will be moved to the Russian Zarya module during the next planned spacewalk in August. The cranes are being relocated because the Russians plan to discard Pirs next May to make room for attachment of a larger multi-purpose laboratory module.
After the Strela 1 boom is moved to Poisk, Kononenko and Shkaplerov will install five micrometeoroid shields on the forward section of the Zvezda module.
If the first two tasks go well, the cosmonauts plan to install an experiment known as "Endurance" on the Poisk module that will expose a variety of materials to the space environment for one to three years. The cosmonauts also hope to collect residue from the hull of the station to help engineers assess corrosion.