HD Cameras Installed On ISS For Russia/Canada Study

The International Space Station is seeing quite a bit of activity this Christmas week, with today's action surrounding the installation of two high-fidelity cameras. This installation was initiated under Expedition 38 and executed by Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). This mission happens just three days after a US-based expedition (as seen in the hero image of this article) to replace faulty water pumps on the station.

While no images taken with these high fidelity cameras have yet been shared by the groups, it's suggested that a commercial arrangement between Roscosmos and a Canadian company are behind the push. This installation of two cameras has been made to downlink Earth observation imagery.

This Russian mission is the last of six Russian spacewalks planned for the year 2013. Mike Hopkins, Expedition 38 Flight Engineer, took part in the faulty water pump replacement along with NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio. You'll see Mastracchio in the reflection on the shield of the helmet of Hopkins in the image attached to this article.

According to Roscosmos, Kotov is walking through space for his fifth time while Ryazanskiy is walking for his second time. Together they're installing one medium resolution camera (MRC) and one high resolution camera (HRC) as well as holding photographing screen-vacuum thermal insulation to the outer surface of the ISS.