Atlantis astronauts are taking part in their third and final spacewalk for this mission.
Garrett Reisman and Mike Good exited the U.S. Quest airlock at the International Space Station at 6:27 a.m., about twenty minutes ahead of schedule.
It was evident the two were excited as they waited in the airlock chamber for depressurization to be complete.
“It’s like standing on your bathroom scale waiting for the needle to go down,” one of them said.
Their mission for the day is to replace two decade-old batteries. The task is scheduled to take 6.5 hours.
These two batteries are the last of 12 to be replaced.
Four were changed out Wednesday during Atlantis’ second spacewalk. The first six were swapped out on the STS-127 mission last July.
The $3.6 million batteries were launched along with a port-side central truss segment in late 2000.
Good, answering to the call sign of "EV1," is wearing a red stripe and has an insignia of Notre Dame, his alma mater, on his spacesuit.
Reisman, "EV2," has the logo of one of his favorite sports teams on his suit, the New York Yankees.
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