NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Dan Tani switched their spacesuits off battery power and started repressurizing the U.S. Quest airlock at 11:46 a.m. EST, marking the official end of the 100th spacewalk to be carried out during the assembly of the International Space Station.
The first two building blocks of the station were linked in orbit in late 1998. Astronauts have tallied 624 hours and 25 minutes of spacewalking work since to build the 250-ton outpost, which is about 60 percent complete.
"This was the 100th (spacewalk) during station assembly, and that's an amazing record of resounding success -- 100 safe (spacewalks) is fantastic. And even though we lose a piece of tape here or there, I think we've done incredible work and I know we couldn't build the space station without it," Tani said. "We've had really a great string of success and it couldn't be done without absolutely everybody's involvement."
Tani and Whitson lost a small piece of Kapton tape during the six-hour, 56-minute excursion, which was the fifth spacewalk for both astronauts.
"Thanks you Dan. Those are excellent words, and deserved by all," fellow astronaut and veteran spacewalker Joe Tanner said from Mission Control. "Thank you very much, and we've got plenty of tape. Don't worry about the tape."
Tani, who was supposed to fly back to Earth on shuttle Atlantis this month, also sent greetings to his wife, who is at home with their two children.
"I've got to say hi to Jane, my wife. I love you and I know you're watching. So I'll be home sometime. Sometime soon I hope," Tani said, who now hopes to return in January.
"Oh, major points scored," Tanner joked.
Whitson now holds the women's world record for the most spacewalking time accumulated: 32 hours and 36 minutes. She eclipsed a benchmark -- 29 hours and 17 minutes -- set by fellow astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams earlier this year.
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