spacetoday.net: ISS crew completes spacewalk

Posted: Mon, Mar 28, 2005, 1:49 PM ET (1849 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

The two-man crew of the International Space Station performed a spacewalk Monday morning, successfully wrapping up their work well ahead of schedule. Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov started their four-hour, 30-minute spacewalk at 1:25 am EST (0625 GMT), exiting the station from the Pirs airlock module on the Russian section of the station. The major purpose of the EVA was to install communications and navigation equipment on the exterior of the Zvezda service module that will be used by Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), an unmanned cargo spacecraft whose first flight to the station is planned for next year. The spacewalkers also manually deployed a five-kilogram Russian-built nanosatellite. The crew finished their spacewalk about 90 minutes ahead of schedule, having successfully completed all their tasks. The EVA was the second and final spacewalk for the Expedition 10 crew, who will return to Earth next month.