KOROLYOV, Moscow Region. June 2 (Interfax-AVN) - The next spacewalk of the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) may take place in spring 2007 instead of November 2006, head of the flight test service of the Energia rocket and space corporation Alexander Alexandrov told the press on Friday.
"The next spacewalk may take in spring 2007 as scientific equipment for it is still under work," he said at the Mission Control Center near Moscow.
He said the mockups of scientific equipment required for the beginning of ground tests ahead of the next spacewalk were absent.
The experiment with the golf ball has also been put off for the next spacewalk. Initially Pavel Vinogradov was supposed to hit the ball during the latest spacewalk.
"We removed this mission at the U.S. party's request in order to accomplish repairs and restoration work on the U.S. module," Alexandrov noted.
According to him, the experiment with the golf ball, which was conceived as an advertisement in the interests of a sport accessories manufacturer, has been cleared with ISS partners and approved by experts.
Alexandrov noted that outer space activity is complicated. "It is a hard job, physically, as it requires a lot of energy," he said.
According to the expert, it will only be possible to ease the burden on cosmonauts in the outer space when robots are introduced. "Such a robot for the ISS has been developed in the Netherlands. In the future it will help cosmonauts move cargoes," he said.