The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis completed the mission鈥檚 third and final planned spacewalk on Friday.
鈥淵ou looked like real pros, for sure,鈥� Atlantis astronaut Steve MacLean radioed fellow crew members Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper.
Tanner made his seventh spacewalk on Friday. He has now flown outside the shuttle a total of 46 hours and 29 minutes, making him the third most experienced US spacewalker. US astronaut Jerry Ross is first with nine spacewalks totaling 58 hours and 18 minutes.
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鈥淲e鈥檒l never catch Jerry Ross,鈥� Tanner said midway through the spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS).
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 enough shuttle flights left to catch Jerry Ross,鈥� Stefanyshyn-Piper responded. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 want to anyway,鈥� Tanner replied.
The start of the spacewalk was delayed about 45 minutes by a tripped circuit breaker in the station鈥檚 airlock. But once they got started, the two astronauts finished all their assigned tasks 鈥� and then some 鈥� during their 6-hour, 41-minute foray into space.
They replaced an S-band antenna, retrieved an experiment testing the effect of space radiation on various materials. They also tried, unsuccessfully, to turn a lock that had been stuck open on base of the station鈥檚 first set of solar arrays and helped deploy a new radiator on the ISS.
Work ahead
Then they did work planned for future spacewalks, including releasing bolts on an orbital debris cover on the station鈥檚 backbone-like truss and moving footholds used during spacewalks. Tanner also tested an infrared video camera by scanning the front edges of Atlantis鈥檚 wings.
But they also got to enjoy the view from an altitude of about 340 kilometres above the Earth. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the Suez Canal,鈥� Tanner pointed out, adding moments later, 鈥渢he Holy land鈥ow鈥�.
After eight bustling days in space, Atlantis鈥檚 six astronauts will finally get a break on Saturday. 鈥淭hey can take a breather tomorrow, get comfortable, and then jump back into it,鈥� says NASA鈥檚 lead space station flight director John McCullough.
On Sunday they are expected to bid the space station farewell. They will spend Monday inspecting Atlantis鈥檚 heat shield for damage caused by space junk or micrometeoroids. Then on Tuesday, pending good weather, they will land back at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US.
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