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US And French Astronauts Complete Space Walk
Houston (AFP) Jun 10, 2002 US astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz and his French colleague, Philippe Perrin, successfully completed a space walk Sunday to add new fixtures to the International Space Station. During the spacewalk that continued for seven hours and 14 minutes and ended at 5:41 pm (2241 GMT), the astronauts have "successfully accomplished all the tasks," said John Ria-Pelly, a spokesman for the Johnson Space Center here. It is the first of three scheduled for the current mission of the space shuttle Endeavour. Other NASA officials were equally upbeat. "It could not have gone better," said Rick LaBrode, lead stage flight ISS director. Tricia Mack, the chief spacewalk coordinator said Chang-Diaz and Perrin had performed "like veterans." The two first-time space walkers began the process of relocating one of the station's trusses and then installed temporary debris shields on the Russian segment of the station. US astronaut Peggy Whitson and station commander Valery Korzun will install the permanent shields on the Russian-made Zvezda Service Module during a spacewalk set for late July. The astronauts also removed thermal blankets from the railcar system under construction to transport the Canadarm2 robotic arm along the full length of the station.
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