Two U.S. astronauts of space shuttle Endeavour's crew ventured again outside the International Space Station on Monday to complete the assembling tasks of the Canadian-built robot Dextre.
Endeavour's mission specialists Rick Linnehan and Robert Behnken stepped out of the Quest airlock at 6:51 p.m. EDT (2251 GMT) on Monday, according to NASA TV.
They would outfit the robot with a "tool belt," cameras and other accessories during the third of the mission's five scheduled spacewalks. Their excursion was scheduled to last for about seven hours.
In Saturday night's second spacewalk, two spacwalkers successfully attached mechanical arms to the robot, which made it look like a "human."
Once fully assembled, Dextre could take over some routine maintenance tasks that have been performed by spacewalkers, enabling astronauts to devote more time to experiments and other scientific activities inside the space station.
As the third contribution to ISS by Canada, Dextre cost Canadian Space Agency almost 200 million U.S. dollars. Dextre was delivered to the station aboard shuttle Endeavour along with the first component of Japan's orbital lab Kibo.
Other astronauts of the shuttle and station crew continued outfitting Kibo's logistics module, transferring supplies and equipment into it from Endeavour's cargo bay, as well as configuring racks inside the module.
The main part of the Kibo lab is scheduled to launch on the next shuttle mission in May. The final section, an outdoor porch with robotic arms, is due to fly next year.
NASA's three service shuttles will all retire in 2010. The agency hopes to finish the construction of the International Space Station before that deadline.
Source:Xinhua
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