Two astronauts — one European and one Russian — ventured outside of the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday for a seven-hour spacewalk.

It was the first for Italy's Samantha Cristoforetti, who is now the first European female astronaut to embark on a spacewalk outside the ISS.

It's rare for a European astronaut to do a spacewalk with a cosmonaut — someone trained and certified by the Russian Space Agency — particularly as the war in Ukraine continues below.

The seven-hour-and-five-minute mission was captured by NASA. 

Why Europe and Russia worked together

Ms Cristoforetti joined Russia's Oleg Artemyev to work on the station's newest robot arm.

An 11-metre mechanical limb — contributed by the European Space Agency — was rocketed into orbit with a Russian lab in July last year.

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Taking to Twitter, the ISS said this was Mr Artemyev's sixth spacewalk and Ms Cristofretti's first.

She is also the first European woman to conduct a spacewalk wearing a Russian spacesuit

Russian cosmonauts typically pair up together for spacewalks, although NASA and European Space Agency astronauts occasionally ventured out with them years ago.

The joint mission comes as tensions continue around the war in Ukraine. After the invasion of Ukraine in February, Europe pulled out of its collaboration with Russia on a mission to Mars this year. 

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But so far, the space station's seven residents say they're getting along well, as have the flight control teams in Houston and Moscow.

The current crew includes three Americans, three Russians and Ms Cristoforetti, the sole female in the European Space Agency's astronaut corps.

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AP with ABC