Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov makes his first space walkout in a Russian spacesuit which has not been used before, Tass learnt on Wednesday at the Moscow Mission Control Center.

"Sharipov works outside the station in the spacesuit Orlan-M No. 27 which has not been used before outside the station. NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao stepped outside in spacesuit Orlan-M No. 26. It had been used by American Michael Fink four times last year," the Mission Control Center spokesman told Tass.

The ISS crew "opened on Wednesday hatches and stepped out in outer space with a 19-minute delay, at 10.41 Moscow time," spokesman Valery Lyndin said. According to the spokesman, "the cosmonauts fumbled a bit with putting on the spacesuits".

The spokesman emphasized that the crew of the tenth main mission works outside the station for the first time in Russian spacesuits Orlan-M. "Sharipov has no experience at all to work in outer space, while Chiao who had made four space walkouts, had worked in American EMU suits," specified an expert. At the same time the Mission Control Center reported that "the crew had a very good training for work outside the space station".

"It's a bit eerie to step out into outer space for the first time: it looks you step out into an abyss," commander of the ninth main expedition Gennady Padalka told Tass. According to Padalka, your feel not as in skydiving, since the cosmonaut does not drop, but hovers in zero gravity.

Source: Itar-Tass