International Space Station commander Gennady Padalka and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko floated out of the Pirs docking compartment today and had no problems completing the primary objective of a 5-hour 51-minute spacewalk -- moving a telescoping space crane to a different module in preparation for arrival of a Russian laboratory compartment late next year.
The cosmonauts then launched a small science satellite, using a handling tool to manually deploy the 20-pound spacecraft on a trajectory to the rear of the space station.
Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka launched a small basketball-size satellite during a spacewalk today.
(Credit: NASA TV)
"Nice throw. Beautiful! Really beautiful!" a translator in the Russian mission control center relayed from air-to-ground radio traffic as the satellite drifted away. "And you can see the sun is being reflected, it's absolutely gorgeous."
The cosmonauts then completed the final major objective of the spacewalk, installing five micrometeoroid shields on the Zvezda command module. They also retrieved a small space exposure experiment and installed two support struts on a ladder used by spacewalkers.
Padalka and Malenchenko returned to the Pirs docking compartment and closed the hatch at 5:28 p.m. ET to officially end the excursion.
This was the 163rd spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, th... [Read more]
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