It is not entirely presumptuous to say that space travel is a dangerous endeavor. Since the height of the space race in the 1950s, there have been 18 people who have died in space. Furthermore the scientific community recently commemorated the Challenger disaster which took the lives of all seven of its crew members in 1986. Truly taking a job that requires being outside of the planet is a risky decision.
Thankfully, more measures have been implemented to ensure the safety of these astronauts. Because of the precautions, more and more missions have gone through without a hitch. For instance, just a few days ago several cosmonauts have ventured of out of the space station and into the vast open universe.
Last February 3, 2016, Russian cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko and Sergey Volkov initiated a spacewalk around the International Space Station at exactly 7:55 AM EST. Their mission was to replace equipment which were part of a study observing the reaction of biological samples to the harsh space environment. the walk was expected to run for five and a half hours. However, the two cosmonauts finished 45 minutes ahead of their scheduled return to the space station.
"We're ahead of the game," quipped a crewmate upon Malenchenko and Volkov's arrival.
Their venture is the second spacewalk conducted in 2016. Earlier in the year on January 15, 2016 to be exact, Briton astronaut Tim Peake and American astronaut Tim Kopra conducted a spacewalk that was hastily halted by a malfunction in Kopra's helmet.
The recent spacewalk is Volkov's fourth and Malenchenko's sixth. It has yet to be confirmed but the recent spacewalk might be Malenchenko's last as he is scheduled to return to earth together with NASA astronaut Scott Kelly on the first of March. The pair are the first astronauts to spend a year in orbit.