Cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Maxim Surayev on Thursday moved through an airlock on the International Space Station to start the first spacewalk of 2010.

Wearing Orlan-MK computerized spacesuits, the Russians were scheduled to spend 5 hours and 40 minutes outside the orbiter.

Though their major technical tasks will be to connect cables between the Poisk and Zvezda modules, install docking targets and Kurs aerials and attach additional handrails to exit hatches, Kotov and Surayev also have to remove the Biorisk-MSN experiment from the exterior of the ISS.

The container has been in position for 30 months and will be returned to Earth in the spring to allow scientists to study the effects of space flight on microorganisms as part of research into the problems of ecological safety and planetary quarantine.

MISSION CONTROL (Korolyov, Moscow Region), January 14 (RIA Novosti)