Washington - Two United States astronauts on Wednesday completed the first of three spacewalks scheduled for the space shuttle Discovery's nine-day mission at the ISS, after overcoming several glitches.
With the help of the station's robotic arm and guided by shuttle Commander Rick Sturckow and spacewalk choreographer Pat Forrester, the duo removed the bulky - albeit weightless in space - liquid ammonia coolant tank from the International Space Station's (ISS) truss.
A new, 800kg replacement will be installed during the second spacewalk late on Thursday while the old tank will return to Earth with Discovery.
Astronaut Nicole Stott and Mission Specialist Danny Olivas returned to the orbiter's decompression chamber after a spacewalk that lasted six hours and 35 minutes, Nasa said.
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Stott and Olivas also fetched US and European experiment equipment from the orbiting station's Columbus laboratory that will be brought back to scientists on Earth. The astronauts eventually won out over some stubborn bolts and pins.
The spacewalk did, however, hit a few snags.
Shortly before the halfway point, the pair lost communication for about 30 minutes with Mission Control in Houston, Texas as a storm interfered with communications equipment at a satellite relay station on the ground in Guam.
US space agency officials downplayed the incident, saying it had not affected the safety of the flight.
"That's not incredibly unusual. We try to plan around that kind of situation," Nasa spokesperson Brandi Dean told reporters from the Johnson Space Centre in Houston.
"These spacewalks are very carefully choreographed, and the crew knows exactly what to do. Mission Control just looks over their shoulder... They don't need communications input every step along the way."
Another concern emerged when Olivas alerted officials on the ground that he had some fraying on his glove.
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