MIAMI: Two American astronauts on Sunday completed a third spacewalk in eight days as they prepared the International Space Station for the arrival of more commercial spacecraft.
The space station’s commander, Capt. Barry E. Wilmore, and the flight engineer, Col. Terry W. Virts, completed their work in 5 hours and 38 minutes, about an hour faster than planned.
“You guys have done an outstanding job, even for two shuttle pilots,” said Sunita L. Williams, a veteran shuttle astronaut and spacewalker who, working from mission control in Houston, led the two men through their tasks in orbit.
While tethered to the space station, the astronauts installed parts for a communications system, NASA said. Then they routed 400 feet of cable, securing it with copper wire ties as they maneuvered across handrails on the space station.
During two earlier spacewalks, the pair installed cable and lubricated the latching portions of the space station’s robotic arm, which NASA said had grown “arthritic” after more than a decade in space.
The spacewalk on Sunday was the 187th for the space station and one of many planned for the coming year to prepare the station for a new era, when more commercial vehicles will carry astronauts to the station.
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