Sunday, August 12, 2007

Endeavour astronauts wrap up first spacewalk

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Two astronauts wrapped up the first spacewalk of space shuttle Endeavour's mission STS-118 on Saturday, installing a new truss segment to the International Space Station, according to NASA TV.


Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio and Dave Williams re-entered the Quest Airlock safely, and the spacewalk officially ended at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT).


During the 6-hour and 17-minute excursion, the two rookie spacewalkers successfully installed the new truss segment, which was delivered to the station by shuttle Endeavour. The duo also retracted a radiator outside the station and performed some get-ahead tasks.


"You guys were awesome," said Endeavour Commander Scott Kelly as the airlock was filled with air to equalize pressure.


The Station-to-Shuttle power transfer system, which was activated after Friday's docking, was shut down as a precaution during the spacewalk. It will be brought back online later Saturday. The system may allow Endeavour and its crew to stay at the station longer.


A decision on a possible mission extension to 14 days is expected to be made Sunday by NASA managers.


Also on Sunday, Endeavour's crew will give a focused inspection to the belly of the shuttle, where a "worrisome" gouge was found there on the heat shield after Friday's linkup between the station and the shuttle.

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