Spacewalking astronauts Steve Swanson and Joe Acaba are back inside the U.S. Quest airlock at the International Space Station after completing a six-hour, 30-minute excursion outside the outpost.The spacewalk was the 122nd performed in the assembly and maintenance of the station since its first two building blocks were linked in low Earth orbit in late 1998.
Astronauts and cosmonauts have tallied 768 hours and 33 minutes of spacewalking work during that time.
The spacewalk was the second of three planned during Discovery's stay at the station. The third is scheduled for Monday. Total time accumulated in the two outings: 12 hours and 37 minutes.
Swanson now has four career spacewalks. Total time tallied: 26 hours and 22 minutes.
It was the first spacewalk for Acaba, a former science teacher at Melbourne High School.
"Congratulations guys. We sure appreciate the hard work you did for our beautiful space station," station skipper Mike Fincke told the astronauts. "And a special congratulations to Joe – this was your first time out there. Great job, my friend."
The experiment platform the astronauts were unable to fully deploy was tied down securely before the astronauts reentered the space station. An out-of-place latching pin prevented got in the way and prevented the deployment. Ground engineers will analyze the matter and map out a course of action.
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