Astronauts Leave The Nest As Nervous NASA Looks On

After some delay caused by a stubborn airlock not used in three years, astronauts William McArthur, Jr. and Cosmonaut Valery Tokarev (file photo, below) left the International Space Station Monday to install a massive camera and discard a non-functioning probe -- all in the first spacewalk directed by NASA since a cooling system glitch contaminated the US airlock and the spacesuits inside in early 2002.

"Oh, it's gorgeous," McArthur said as he opened the hatch, according to CNN.

Under an agreement between NASA and the Russian Space Agency, each country's space program oversees excursions from their respective airlocks. Although crew members fixed the US airlock, those aboard the ISS had to use Russian spacesuits (only serviceable from the Russian airlock) until the shuttle Discovery could finally deliver a new heat exchanger and two new US spacesuits this past July.

The spacewalk, although not seen as overly challenging in either task or scope, will nevertheless leave the station unattended for 5.5 hours -- not an entirely abnormal situation, either, but just enough to make NASA extra cautious.

"It certainly has not become routine for us," said NASA's Pete Hasbrook said of the spacewalk. "While it is not routine, it is something we are willing to do and something we see the need to do."

Ideally, a third astronaut would be present onboard the station, to help spacewalkers into and out of their delicate spacesuits and to also keep an eye on things onboard the station; however, with the delay in regular shuttle flights since the Columbia tragedy, the station has been operating with a reduced crew of two.

On Monday's spacewalk, McArthur and Tokarev will install a giant tripod-mounted camera, which will be used to direct future space shuttle dockings with the ISS as well as to inspect the shuttle for launch damage. Once the camera is installed, the spacewalkers will next remove a non-functioning probe from the station's exterior, tossing it into an orbit that will degrade over the next three months, eventually incinerating the probe in Earth's atmosphere.

The spacewalk is McArthur's third foray into space -- he's also flown from Mir, as well as once before from the ISS -- and Tokarev's first.

FMI: www.nasa.gov