The Russian/US crew of the International Space Station (ISS) completed a planned spacewalk anhour and a half ahead of schedule and returned to the station, themission control said Tuesday in Moscow.

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and US astronaut Michael Fincke began the spacewalk at 10:58 a.m. Moscow time (0658 GMT) and returned to the station at 03:27 p.m. Moscow time (1127 GMT), Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The crew successfully completed the scheduled operations in four and a half hours when six hours had been allocated for the tasks, mission control spokesman Valery Lyndin was cited as saying. ��

They installed the Russian module Zvezda with three upgraded laser deflectors and a video meter target to be used for the docking with the first European cargo spacecraft to be launched inOctober 2005.

Russian spaceships have been the only links with the 16-nation orbiting space station since the Columbia space shuttle disaster on Feb. 1, 2003 which killed all seven crew members.

Mission control official Vladimir Solovyov said the crew is expected to make the next spacewalk on September 3, continuing preparations for the docking of the ATV cargo spaceship.