US astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut
Gennady Padalk returned to the International Space Station early Thursday after a successful second attempt at a spacewalk, Russian mission control said.The pair opened the hatch at 1:19 a.m. Moscow time (2119 GMT) and returned to the station five hours and forty minutes after, ahead of schedule, a spokesman for TsUP mission control told AFP.
"They worked without resting, so much so that the mission control had to rein them in," Valery Lyndin said.
The astronauts were able to repair the electronic block on the gyroscope controlling the ISS's orientation in space and also fulfill additional tasks such as installing soft handrails and a vacuum-measuring unit on the Russian segment.
Fincke and Padalka had briefly stepped out of the orbiting station on Friday but returned after a few minutes because of a defect in Fincke's space suit.
The space walk was originally scheduled for June 16, but it was delayed to avoid possible communication problems resulting from the launch of a satellite from Russia.
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Nov 02, 2006
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