Italian, Russian share rare spacewalk amid Ukraine tensions

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An Italian astronaut has teamed up with a Russian cosmonaut in a rare spacewalking show of unity. Thursday’s spacewalk comes as tensions over Ukraine continue to ricochet 260 miles below. The spacewalk was in question last week when the Russian Space Agency’s now former chief threatened to halt work on the 37-foot arm outside the International Space Station. Samantha Cristoforetti and Oleg Artemyev joined forces to work on Europe’s new robot arm. Russian cosmonauts typically pair up for spacewalks, although astronauts from NASA and the European Space Agency occasionally ventured out with them years ago.