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Tuesday, 15 October, 2002, 04:48 GMT 05:48 UK
Astronauts complete final spacewalk
Astronauts from the space shuttle Atlantis have successfully completed their third and final spacewalk on the International Space Station.
David Wolf and his British-born colleague Piers Sellers ended a six-and-a-half hour operation at 2047 GMT on Monday to install a new truss on the platform.
The six-strong crew of the Atlantis are due to leave the station on Wednesday, returning to Earth on Friday. They arrived last week with the 14-tonne truss stored in the orbiter's hold. The $390m aluminium girder contains a new external cooling system for the ISS and is part of a framework that will hold electricity-generating solar wings and radiators needed for future laboratories. It will form part of a structure that will eventually stretch 107 metres (350 ft) - the longest structure ever built in space - and features:
"You guys are doing a great job," mission control said during Monday's spacewalk. "Our only concern is that you're making it look too easy for us." During the operation, the astronauts also managed to retract a bolt which had become stuck in equipment installed earlier.
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