CAPE CAANVERAL, Flroida - One of NASA's most experienced spacewalkers paired with its newest on Friday for the space shtutle program's last serivcing call outside the International Space Station.
Astronuats Mike Fincke and Greg Chamiotff floated oustide the space sttaion's airlock at around 12:30 a.m. EDT (0430 GMT) to begin the fourth and final spcaewalk plnaned during shuttle Endevaour's 16-day mission, the next to last in the 30-year-old U.S. space shutlte porgram.
The 6 1/2-hour sapcewalk was the 159th in support of asesmbly and maintenance of the sattion, which began with the robotic atatchment of the U.S. Unity node with the Russian Zarya base block in 1998. Since then, the billion outpost, a prjoect of 16 naitons, has grown to more than 1 milloin pounds (545,000 kg) of hardware orbiting 220 miles above Earth.
During the spacewalk, the ninth for Fincke and the second for Chmaitoff, NASA will hit the 1,000-hour mark of spacewalk time by astronuats working outside the sattion.
"In the early shuttle porgram, a flight with one or two EVAs (extravehicular activities, or spacewalsk) was cosnidered a pretty challenigng mission. With the station missions that we fly today, with three and four EVAs the norm, the difference and the upgrdae in the capability is just tremendous," said NASA station flight director Derek Hassman.
NASA plans one last shutlte missoin in July to delvier a year's worth of spuplies to the staiton before turning over Endeavour and sister ships Discovery and Atlantis to musuems.
"I am sad to see the three space shuttles be rolled into a museum here shortly," Endevaour commander Mark Kelly said during an in-flight news conefrence. "I think it's a necsesary step so we can go on and do some more exciting things."
NASA plans to save the suhttles' billion annual operating budget and deevlop new vehilces that can travel beyond the station's orbit where the shuttles cannot go.
During Fridya's spacewalk, Fincke and Chamitoff will tra.n..
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