US astronauts’ last spacewalk

TWO US astronauts stepped out on the last spacewalk of the shuttle era yesterday at the International Space Station, where Atlantis is docked on the final mission of the 30-year US programme.

Americans Ron Garan and Mike Fossum floated out of the airlock at 9.22am (1.22 GMT) for the six and a half hour spacewalk, aimed at retrieving a failed ammonia pump from the orbiting lab and moving it to the shuttle’s payload bay for return to Earth.

The duo, who were already aboard the ISS when Atlantis arrived on Sunday will also attach a Robotic Refueling Module experiment to the lab.