spacetoday.net: Astronauts complete first STS-111 spacewalk

Posted: Mon, Jun 10, 2002, 8:46 AM ET (1246 GMT)
STS-111 EVA 1 (NASA)

Two shuttle astronauts successfully conducted a spacewalk Sunday, the first of three scheduled for the STS-111 mission. Franklin Chang-Diaz and Philippe Perrin spent seven hours and 14 minutes outside the shuttle and station Sunday, completing all the tasks assigned for that EVA. The two attached a grapple fixture to the station's solar power array so it can be moved later to a section of the station's truss. They also placed micrometeoroid shields on the hull of the station; the shields will be deployed later this year to protect the Russian Zvezda module. They then removed thermal covers from the mobile base station unit currently stowed in the shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay. That unit will be installed on the railcar on the station's truss by the station's robot arm on Monday, and final connections between the unit and station will be made during a second EVA Tuesday. Chang-Diaz and Perrin also inspected the exterior of a gyro that failed on Saturday, and reported seeing no sign of external damage. The spacewalk was the first for both astronauts, although Perrin is making his first spaceflight and Chang-Diaz a record-tying seventh trip into orbit.