spacetoday.net: Astronauts complete first STS-131 spacewalk; mission extended

Posted: Sat, Apr 10, 2010, 10:28 AM ET (1428 GMT)
STS-131: EVA #1 (NASA)

Two astronauts carried out the first of three scheduled spacewalks for the STS-131 mission early Friday. Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson spent six hours and 27 minutes outside the ISS on an EVA that ended at 7:58 am EDT (1158 GMT). The two removed a new ammonia tank from the shuttle's cargo bay and stowed it at a temporary location on the ISS; they will install it in its final location after swapping out a depleted tank in later spacewalks. The two also retrieved an experiment from the exterior of the Kibo module and replaced a gyro on a truss segment. Inside the station astronauts have been unloading cargo from the Leonardo module that was moved from the shuttle's cargo bay to the station on Thursday. Late Friday shuttle mission managers decided to extend the shuttle's mission by one day to allow for an inspection of the shuttle's thermal protection system while still docked to the station. That inspection is needed because of problems with the shuttle's Ku-band antenna that prevent it from transmitting video to Earth directly. Discovery is now scheduled to land in Florida on April 19.