Astronauts begin spacewalk to fix space station

Recently, two astronauts floated outside the international space station Monday to begin connecting the orbiting outpost's newest addition: a 35,000-pound segment that will increase its power capability. The start of the spacewalk was delayed by more than an hour because the four spinning gyroscopes that keep the space station properly positioned became overloaded. Space shuttle Atlantis was used to help control the station's orientation until the gyroscopes were able to take over again. This pushed back efforts by astronauts on the space station to place the new segment with the station's robotic arm. The new segment needed to be securely attached before the space walkers could begin making power and data connections. Astronauts James Reilly, on his fourth spacewalk, and Danny Olivas, on his first, began their spacewalk at 4:02 p.m. EDT as the space station flew 208 miles over the southern Pacific Ocean. More will be discussed at a later date.

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