WASHINGTON – Two spacewalking astronauts Thursday found the reward for working so well and so fast is … extra work.
American astronaut Jeff Williams and German astronaut Thomas Reiter were so efficient at repairs to a key new cooling system for the international space station that they finished that job 90 minutes early in their 5-hour, 54-minute spacewalk.
But did NASA let them take some time to enjoy the view from 250 miles up?
No. Mission controllers pulled out their massive honey-do list.
Install a floodlight on an exterior railcar, put a vent valve in the science lab, remove a faulty global positioning system antenna, move a foot restraint for future spacewalks, retrieve a connecting device and take a picture of a scratch on the outside of the space station.
At one point when some of the extra jobs were done and Mission Control couldn’t radio up for a minute or so, Williams and Reiter considered the beautiful view. “Just hanging out,” Williams said happily.
“You can no longer hang out, I have more work for you,” communicator Stephen Bowen interrupted. NASA ran through their planned “get-aheads” – tasks set aside if there is extra time – and came up with yet more work.
After Williams photographed the scratch on the space station, he practically pleaded: “You did say that was our last task.”
It was. The chores done, the spacewalk ended 36 minutes earlier than planned.
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