Astronauts begin space-walk

A US astronaut and his Russian crewmate ventured outside the international space station today for a strenuous six-hour spacewalk intended to fix a faulty antenna.

The main mission of Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin was to fold an antenna on a Russian Progress cargo ship that could be an obstacle when the vessel needs to be undocked to make room for a new space ferry, said Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin.

The spacewalk was the 10th for Lopez-Alegria, who set a US record for total time walking in space – 61 hours and 22 minutes – when he and fellow American Sunita Williams did maintenance work outside the space station earlier this month.

Astronaut Jerry Ross, who has made nine space walks, held the previous US time record, while Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyov holds the world mark with more than 82 hours.

Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin were expected to spend most of their time outside the station trying to free the cargo ship’s antenna, which became stuck in a railing on the station during its docking in October, Lyndin said.