ISS crew completes spacewalk
U.S. space agency NASA's Jeff Williams and his Russian companion aboard the International Space Station have completed a spacewalk for making repairs.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced Williams and Cmdr. Pavel Vinogradov re-entered the airlock of the station's docking compartment early Friday after their 6 1/2-hour spacewalk.
Their tasks included repairing a vent for the station's oxygen-producing Elektron unit, retrieving experiment results and replacing a camera on the orbiting laboratory's railcar system.
Wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits, they moved from Pirs to the Strela hand-operated crane, and used it to move about the station's Russian segment, the space agency said.
The Elektron breaks down water into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is used in the station and the hydrogen is vented into space. The repair, involving installation of a nozzle on the neck of a valve, was followed by a few minutes to photograph the area.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
