CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., June 9 (UPI) -- Two shuttle Endeavour astronauts sailed through a prolonged but successful seven-hour spacewalk on Sunday to prepare the International Space Station for upcoming upgrades.
Working in the vacuum of space for the first time were seven-time shuttle veteran Franklin Chang-Diaz and rookie astronaut Philippe Perrin. The men are scheduled to make a total of three spacewalks during Endeavour's eight-day stay at the station.
After acclimating to the unusual environment and setting up their tools, Chang-Diaz and Perrin first installed a grapple fixture on one of the station's solar array panels so that it can be picked up by a robotic crane and moved to a new location during a future shuttle mission.
As they worked 240 miles above the planet, the unfettered view proved an insurmountable distraction at times.
"You see the glowing light over Earth?, Chang-Diaz pointed out to his partner, as the free-flying spacewalkers soared over Australia. "That's the aurora."
"Oh my god!," replied Perrin, momentarily stunned by the grandeur of the Southern Lights. "That's so beautiful. Look at that."
Moving slowly to avoid coming too close to any equipment on the station, Chang-Diaz and Perrin surveyed the outside of the Unity connection node, looking for signs of damage or for debris hits that might have played a role in the failure Saturday of one of the station's gyroscopes.
The station has four giant flywheels that spin to keep the outpost properly positioned in orbit. One of the gyroscopes shut down with a disturbing and presumably fatal grinding sound Saturday morning. Backup gyroscopes are maintaining the station's position. The astronauts reported seeing no obvious signs of damage.
Among the tasks the spacewalkers accomplished were stowing six debris shields in a temporary location outside the station. The shields, part of a set to be installed on the Russian-built Service Module, will be attached during a spacewalk by station crew members later this summer.
Chang-Diaz and Perrin also spent about an hour removing insulating covers from a new platform for the station's robotic crane. The platform is expected to be attached on Monday to a mobile base which will allow the arm to be rolled along the station's truss to reach outlying construction areas.
