Astronauts Repair Space Station

Astronauts spent the holiday week working outside, replacing a busted cooling pump on the International Space Station. High above the Atlantic Ocean, NASA's Rick Mastracchio here participates in the first stage of the repairs on a 5-hour, 28-minute spacewalk. (See also: "Top 5 Space Station Repair Spacewalk Dangers.")

Mastracchio and another NASA astronaut, Mike Hopkins, successfully completed the repairs on Christmas Eve. Drama had accompanied these spacewalks after a helmet had filled dangerously with water during a previous spacewalk.

Mastracchio and Hopkins performed their repairs so efficiently, however, that a third spacewalk was canceled because it was not needed to finish the job.

-Dan Vergano

PHOTGRAPH COURTESY NASA

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December 28, 2013