MOSCOW, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Russian cosmonauts are scheduled to conduct this year's first spacewalk on Friday, Russia's Mission Control told local media Tuesday.

The two cosmonauts, Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka, are expected to finish several work projects during the six-hour spacewalk.

"The spacewalk will have several objectives: the installation of Russian high-speed data transmission equipment on the Zvezda service module, dismounting of the impulse plasma injector and installation of a camera on the Rassvet module," RIA Novosti news agency cited a Mission Control spokesman as saying.

Local media said the cosmonauts had asked nutritionists to add more kinds of food into their dishes, including pickles, onions, garlic and some fruits, because they believed various food could cheer them up and improve their working skills.

Earlier this month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared 2011 as Russia's Space Year.

The country is also due to celebrate in April the 50th anniversary of its first manned space flight. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted into the orbit on April 12, 1961 for a 90-minute flight.