Russian cosmonauts in International Space Station spacewalk

MOSCOW, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station began a 6 1/2-hour spacewalk Friday, Russia's Mission Control said.

Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin left the vehicle Friday morning for an extra-vehicular operation, rigging cables and wiring in anticipation of the arrival of a Russian laboratory module, NASA reported.

The spacewalk will be Yurchikhin's seventh, Misurkin's second and the 172nd in total in support of maintenance and assembly of the $100 billion orbiting laboratory, supported by 15 countries, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti said.