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ISS crew start first spacewalk of the year

RIA Novosti

31/01/2007 19:12 WASHINGTON, January 31 (RIA Novosti) - Two astronauts from the International Space Station have begun their first spacewalk of 2007, NASA reported Wednesday.

ISS commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineer Sunita Williams will embark on three further spacewalks in February.

"The three spacewalks from the Quest airlock in U.S. spacesuits and a Russian spacewalk scheduled for Feb. 22 are the most ever done by station crew members during an increment without a shuttle present. They also will bring to 10 the total number of spacewalks by Lopez-Alegria, an astronaut record. Williams will have a total of four, a women's record," NASA said on its web site.

The current crew of the world's sole orbital station comprises U.S. astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, who arrived at the station on September 20, and U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams, who replaced the European Space Agency's German astronaut Thomas Reiter in December 2006, and who will remain on the ISS for another five months.