Spacewalkers Head Outside Station Well Ahead Of Schedule

Running well ahead of schedule, U.S. astronauts Stephen Bowen and Mike Good are exiting the U.S. Quest airlock at the International Space Station for the second of three spacewalks planned during shuttle Atlantis' weeklong visit at the outpost.

The excursion was scheduled to begin at 7:15 a.m. But the astronauts breezed through preps and began heading out the hatch at 6:38 a.m. as the joined station-shuttle complex soared 220 miles over the South Pacific Ocean.

Bowen is making his fifth spacewalk. He is wearing a suit with a red stripe and is answering to the radio call sign "EV-1."

Good, who made his spacewalking debut on the fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission a year ago, is wearing a suit with barber pole stripes. He is answering to "EV-2."