Published: 10 June, 2009, 12:20
Edited: 10 June, 2009, 12:20
Russian commander Gennady Padalka and NASA astronaut Michael Barratt have installed a docking cone on the International Space Station, which is to receive a science module later in the year.
The pair did not completely venture out into the open cosmos, but rather worked in an airlock aboard the station.
The astronauts spent around 40 minutes replacing a cover from the docking bay on the Russian Zvezda module, and replaced it with the docking cone that will enable the MIM-2 small research module to dock when it arrives on the next Progress cargo mission in November.
The remaining members of the six-person crew also helped out in preparation for the mission, packing instruments and carrying out tests.
Last Friday, the crew carried out their first spacewalk installing three antennas in anticipation of the cargo mission in November.
It’s the first time that all principal countries of the ISS program have been represented at any one time on the space station.
At the end of May, Russian Roman Romanenko, Belgian Frank De Winne and Canadian Robert Thirsk joined Barratt, Padalka and Koichi Wakata of Japan, to bring the crew to an unprecedented six members on board.