Russian cosmonaut becomes world's oldest spacewalker at 59

A 59-year-old Russian cosmonaut became the world's oldest spacewalker yesterday when he emerged from the hatch for a little maintenance work outside the International Space Station.

A 59-year-old Russian cosmonaut became the world's oldest spacewalker on Friday when he emerged from the hatch for a little maintenance work outside the International Space Station.

Pavel Vinogradov, a cosmonaut for two decades, emerged with Roman Romanenko. The duo installed new equipment and worked at gathering old experiments and replacing a navigation device, Fox News reported.

Previously, the record was held by retired NASA astronaut Story Musgrave, who was 58 when he helped fix the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993.

Roman, 41, is a second-generation spaceman, who is following in his father retired cosmonaut Yuri's footsteps.

Yuri had performed spacewalks back in the 1970s and 1980s.

Vinogradov is making his seventh spacewalk; he ventured into a dark, ruptured chamber at Russia's old Mir space station in 1997 following a cargo ship collision.

He arrived for a six-month stay at the end of March and will turn 60 aboard the space station this summer.