Spacewalkers work in shuttle payload bay.
Schlegel and Walheim
Spacewalkers enter payload bay
Beginning the mission's second spacewalk at 9:27 a.m. EST, Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel climbed along the space station toward the task they will perform for the next 6.5 hours.
"Welcome to spacewalking, Hans," said Walheim, who is making his fourth spacewalk.
"I'm holding on to Columbus. It's a good feeling," said Schlegel as he climbed across the newly installed European laboratory on his first spacewalk.
Walheim earlier pointed out a flaw with sharp edges spotted by Stan Love on Monday's spacewalk. The rough-edged area could be responsible for glove damage that several astronauts have experienced on recent spacewalks.
"It's a very small divot," said Walheim.
"I see it," replied Schlegel.
The astronauts checked out each other's equipment before heading out to install a nitrogen tank assembly on the P-1 truss and bring the old tank back to the payload bay for return to Earth. Mission Control has lined up several get ahead tasks if the pair finishes the tank installation early.
"I want to tell all the good people of Germany what a pleasure it is to be out here spacewalking with one of their favorite sons, Hans Schlegel," said Walheim.
This is Walheim's fourth spacewalk. Schlegel missed his first spacewalk Monday due a medical condition that NASA would not disclose. He has recovered.
We'll have live coverage here this morning. Stay tuned.
Click for interactive graphic on Columbus installation.
Click for STS-122 fact sheet.
Click for NASA-TV schedule, which details mission events.
The nitrogen tank assembly (NTA) sits in the payload bay beneath two European experiments, SOLAR and EUTEF. The spacewalkers will return the old tank to the payload bay.
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