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U.S. astronauts complete final spacewalk on current ISS mission

RIA Novosti

25/11/2008 10:00 WASHINGTON, November 25 (RIA Novosti) - Two U.S. astronauts have successfully wrapped up the fourth spacewalk during their current mission and returned to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA said on Tuesday.

Space shuttle Endeavour crewmembers Steve Bowen and Shane Kimbrough "worked on the starboard and port solar alpha rotary joints, installed a camera on the Port 1 Truss, and installed a GPS antenna and retracted a latch" on the Japanese Kibo lab module.

NASA's STS-126 mission, dubbed "extreme home improvements", started on November 14 when space shuttle Endeavour took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida with a crew of seven and 14,000 kg of supplies.

The mission has been extended one day for astronauts to continue troubleshooting of the station's new Water Recovery System and transferring supplies from the shuttle to the ISS.

Space shuttle Endeavour's landing is now scheduled for Sunday at 17:55 GMT.

Six astronauts on the Endeavour mission will return to Earth, along with current ISS astronaut Greg Chamitoff, to be replaced by Sandra Magnus, who is due to remain on the space station until February next year.