Astronauts Start 3rd Spacewalk

International Space Station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Sunita Williams began the third of an unprecedented series of spacewalks at 8:26 a.m. EST today from the Quest airlock.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams completed the first two in the three-spacewalk series from Quest over the nine-day period on Jan. 31 and Feb. 4.

The focus of the first and second spacewalks was on reconfiguration of station power and cooling systems to permanent ones. Major tasks of this spacewalk include removing and jettisoning two large shrouds and installation of attachments for cargo carriers. Live coverage of today's activities is available on NASA TV.

By the end of the spacewalk Lopez-Alegria will be in second place for the most spacewalk time by an American astronaut.

Source: NASA