spacetoday.net: ISS astronauts complete spacewalk

Posted: Thu, Feb 1, 2007, 7:49 AM ET (1249 GMT)
ISS EVA on January 31, 2007 (NASA)

Two US astronauts completed the first in a closely-spaced series of three spacewalks outside the ISS on Wednesday. Astronauts Mike Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams spent nearly eight hours outside the station, hooking up ammonia coolant lines from a temporary arrangement to the station's permanent cooling system. The work took somewhat longer than planned as the astronauts worked slowly and methodically to avoid releasing any ammonia in the lines. Other than a few flakes of frozen ammonia that escaped from one line near the end of the spacewalk, they successfully avoided any release of ammonia that could have contaminated their spacesuits. The EVA was the first of three scheduled outside the ISS through next Thursday. The second, which will also involve work on the station's cooling system, is scheduled for Sunday.