Doctor performs space surgery on shuttle

A pair of spacewalking astronauts, one of them a surgeon, rushed through antenna and cable work outside the International Space Station and even managed to do an extra chore.

Atlantis crewmen Michael Foreman and Dr Robert Satcher Jr had a spare antenna installed just two hours after venturing out on the first spacewalk of their mission.

They also hooked up cables and a handrail, and greased some mechanisms, zooming two hours ahead at one point.

"You guys are rocking the house," astronaut Randolph Bresnik called from inside the linked shuttle-station complex.

As Dr Satcher - the first orthopaedic surgeon in space - lubricated snares for a robot arm, Mr Bresnik observed: "It is a thing of beauty to see the good doctor at work...We have photographic evidence of the highest recorded orthopedic surgery - ever."

The hardest job was one they were not even supposed to tackle.

They jumped ahead and released a cargo platform, after struggling with a jammed spring-loaded device.

They had to hammer and wiggle a bolt and brace to free the mechanism, and lost a small metal piece in the process. The one-eighth-inch sliver, possibly a pin, floated harmlessly away.

Mr Foreman and Dr Satcher fielded congratulations from their colleagues at the end of the six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. Shuttle commander Charles Hobaugh promised them something to eat and a chance to relax.

Two more spacewalks are planned - tomorrow and Monday - to perform more space station maintenance and get the orbiting outpost ready for the next shuttle visitors.

Atlantis will remain at the space station until Wednesday.

Already, the 12 space travellers have unloaded several tons of pumps, tanks and other big spare parts that came up on Atlantis. They took care of that just hours after the shuttle docked at the station on Wednesday.

All the gear should keep the space station operating well past next autumn's shuttle retirement.

The shuttle is the only craft large enough to haul these oversize pieces for the space station, which is why Nasa was so keen on flying the parts now, long before they're needed.

Nasa plans to keep the outpost running until at least 2015.

Five more shuttle missions remain, all devoted to space station work.