Strela (crane)

'crane arm') is a class of four Russian-built cargo cranes used during EVAs to move cosmonauts and components around the exterior of the Soviet/Russian space station Mir and the Russian Orbital Segment of the International Space Station.

[2][3] This means that the cranes on Mir could easily reach all of the main modules of the complex, and those attached to the ISS can be used to transfer objects the full length of the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS), from Zvezda to Zarya.

The largest robotic arm on the ISS, Canadarm2 weighs 1,800 kilograms and is used to hold crew members during EVAs, move station modules, spacecraft, orbital replacement units and Dextre on the US Orbital Segment.

Each Strela crane weighs 45 kg and can perform all necessary tasks, with substantial weight savings, less complexity and less maintenance than the Canadarm2 and the European Robotic Arm.

An EVA in February, 2012 relocated one Strela crane to the docking compartment Poisk.

Flight Engineer Kononenko photographs commander Volkov operating the manual Strela crane holding him. The commander stands on Pirs and has his back to the Soyuz spacecraft . Zarya is seen to the left and Zvezda across the bottom of the image.