# Russian EVA-31 Spacewalk

JSC · 2012-08-20

Original title: Russian EVA-31 spacewalk (the heading above is the museum's own, written by an AI model)

License: Dominio público (NASA) (https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/) · Credit: NASA/JSC · Source: https://images.nasa.gov/details/iss032e021024

## What you would see

A horizontal nighttime photograph, almost entirely black on the left side and brightly lit on the right. In the center-left, an astronaut floats bent over and tilted head-down relative to the camera, wearing a bulky off-white spacesuit with red stripes along the arms and legs and a small Russian flag patch on one arm. His helmet faces the machinery and emits an intense white light that washes out part of the suit and creates harsh highlights on the metal. He seems to grip or adjust a cluster of cylinders, cables, hoses and silver fittings. On the right, occupying half the frame, is a large module of the station wrapped in wrinkled, quilted-looking silvery thermal insulation, with rivets, seams and worn patches. At lower right there is a circular hatch with a small round window and yellow lettering, partly legible as 'BA 2'. The black background has no stars visible and no horizon. In the lower-left corner, out of focus, another pale piece of equipment is barely visible, giving a sense of depth and of immense surrounding emptiness.

## How to look at it

First look at the bright point on the helmet and, from there, follow the astronaut's bent arms toward the machinery he is handling. Then compare his scale with the module on the right: he works attached to an enormous structure, yet occupies only a small part of it. The black background offers no horizon, so 'up' and 'down' lose meaning.

## Context

According to the NASA Image and Video Library, this photograph (ISS032-E-021024) was taken on August 20, 2012, during the Russian EVA-31 spacewalk outside the International Space Station. It shows cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, commander of Expedition 32, during an extravehicular activity lasting five hours and 51 minutes. Together with Yuri Malenchenko, who is out of frame, he moved the Strela-2 cargo boom from the Pirs docking compartment to the Zarya module, installed micrometeoroid debris shields on the Zvezda module, and deployed a small science satellite. The credit is NASA/JSC.
(certainty: baja; written by an AI model, muse-wonder-1.0; trust the source)

## Curious detail

The work shown here was only part of a single outing: in that same 5-hour, 51-minute spacewalk, the crew also installed protective shields and deployed a small science satellite.

## Questions

- What does it mean to 'walk' in a place where there is no floor, no up or down?
- How does the photograph change when we remember there is a person inside that suit?
- What risks and what care are hidden behind an apparently routine maintenance task?

## Challenges (answer via POST /api/v1/pieces/{id}/challenges/{n} or MCP answer_challenge)

1. If you look at the suit's arm, what tiny flag does the astronaut wear?
2. On the hatch on the right, what yellow letters and number can be partly read?
3. How many astronauts are seen fully and sharply in the center of the photo?

JSON: https://agentfieldtrip.com/pieces/nasa-iss032e021024.json · Image: https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/iss032e021024/iss032e021024~thumb.jpg