Two Russian cosmonauts today finished the year"s first spacewalk outside the orbiting International Space Station, 11 minutes earlier than scheduled, according to dpa. Oleg Kotov and Maxim Surayev completed the walk around 1540 GMT, reported the Itar-Tass news agency, citing the station"s control centre outside Moscow. The two retrieved a container full of microorganisms such as mosquito larvae and fish eggs. Those will be examined on Earth this spring to see which, if any, survived exposure to outer space and to determine whether lifeforms can be transported through space to new planets or from those planets back to Earth, said project director Natalya Novikova. Additionally, the cosmonauts linked the research module Poisk (Search) to the ISS and added grips to the station"s exterior. The two wore new "intelligent" spacesuits, with integrated computers designed to support the cosmonauts in their work and provide recommendations in case of trouble. Aside from Kotov and Surayev, the ISS is currently manned by US astronauts Jeff Williams and Timothy Creamer and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi.
