Two astronauts fixed a faulty cooling system Tuesday on the orbiting International Space Station in a seven-and-a-half-hour spacewalk, US space agency NASA said.
Americans Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins spent an hour longer than planned floating outside the station in only the second-ever Christmas Eve spacewalk in the history of NASA, the US space agency.
They could be seen working busily throughout the endeavour in live video on NASA’s website.
Tuesday’s work followed a five-and-a-half-hour spacewalk on Saturday, when ISS crew members began the cooling system repairs by detaching a malfunctioning pump module.
The astronauts had been due to replace the module during a spacewalk on Monday, which was postponed after a fault was detected in Mastracchio’s spacesuit following Saturday’s walk. He was fitted to use a reserve suit, which he wore Tuesday.
Mastracchio has now completed eight spacewalks topping 50 hours in his career.
The cooling system failed December 11, requiring the six-person ISS crew to switch off all equipment deemed non-essential, halting dozens of scientific experiments.
The station, a project involving 15 countries, orbits more than 400 kilometres above Earth.