Astronauts to make repairs during second spacewalk

A day after receiving the good news that it would be safe for the space shuttle Discovery to return to Earth, astronauts awoke today to begin their latest task: taking the second of three planned spacewalks to make repairs to the international space station.

The plans for today’s spacewalk lacked the drama of the astronauts’ jaunt on Saturday, when they stood on the end of a sometimes-oscillating 100ft shuttle robotic arm connected to an extension boom. They were testing its sturdiness for making repairs to the space shuttle.