spacetoday.net: Astronauts perform last shuttle-era EVA

Posted: Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 8:17 AM ET (1217 GMT)
STS-135: EVA (NASA)

Two ISS astronauts spent six and a half hours outside the International Space Station on Tuesday on what NASA billed as the final spacewalk of the Space Shuttle era. Mike Fossum and Ron Garan performed the six-hour, 31-minute EVA that ended at 3:53 pm EDT (1953 GMT) Tuesday. The two transferred a broken ammonia pump from the station to the shuttle's cargo bay, and moved a robotic servicing experiment brought up on the shuttle to a temporary site on the station's exterior. The two also performed miscellaneous tasks, including installing a materials experiment and removing a misplaced wire. The spacewalk was described by NASA as the last of the shuttle era, although the EVA was performed by ISS crewmembers and not members of the STS-135 crew; the last spacewalk involving shuttle astronauts took place during the previous shuttle mission, STS-134, in May. The STS-135 crew has since been working to unload a logistics module carrying several tons of supplies for the station.