A Russian cosmonaut threw a tiny satellite into the vacuum of space during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station Monday (Aug. 18).
Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev threw the Peruvian nanosatellite from the space station about 22 minutes after the spacewalk began at 10:02 a.m. EDT (1402 GMT). His fellow spacewalking cosmonaut, Alexander Skvortsov, took photos of the Chasqui 1 nanosatellite release. NASA broadcast live video of Artemyev tossing the satellite into space during the spacewalk.
The tiny— satellite — which measures 4 inches by 4 inches by 4 inches (10 centimeters) and weighs 2.2 lbs (1 kilogram) — is designed to take photos of Earth in infrared and visible light, according to NASA officials. [See photos of the Casqui-1 satellite deployment]
"That looks beautiful," one of the cosmonauts said of the view of Earth from space while waiting to deploy the satellite.
This isn't the first time satellite have been sent into space from the International Space Station. Astronauts launched fleets of tiny cubesats from the Japanese module on the space station, and in 2006, two crewmembers launched "SuitSat" — a spacesuit repurposed into a satellite — during a spacewalk.
The satellite release wasn't the only job for Skvortsov and Artemyev. The spacewalking cosmonauts were also scheduled to perform some science sample collection work during the six-hour, 15-minute excursion.
The two cosmonauts also worked on other assignments involving various science experiments on the outside of the station.
They installed the astrobiology experiment EXPOSE-R2 package from the European Space Agency. Two experiments in the package are expected to investigate extremophiles and biomaterials in the space environment. "Results from these experiments may contribute to life-detection strategies for future robotic exploration of Mars," NASA officials said in a statement.
Monday's spacewalk was the 181st in support of the station's maintenance and assembly.
— Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com
This is a condensed version of a report from SPACE.com. Read the full report. Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+.