Italian astronaut and Russian cosmonaut team up for spacewalk

Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev perform maintenance on the International Space Station (Nasa/AP)

An Italian astronaut has joined a Russian cosmonaut in a rare spacewalking show of unity as tensions over Ukraine continued back on Earth.

Samantha Cristoforetti teamed up with Oleg Artemyev to work on the International Space Station’s newest robot arm.