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Second ISS spacewalk done and dusted

Troublesome bolt delays installation of Ammonia Tank Assembly

Mission specialists Clayton Anderson and Rick Mastracchio today wrapped the second of three STS-131 mission spacewalks outside the International Space Station - a seven hour, 26 minute EVA during which they fitted a replacement Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA).

Clayton Anderson, STS-131 mission specialist. Pic: NASAThe pair exited the ISS at 05:30 GMT, but after four-an-a-half hours had a spot of bother with one of four bolts designed to attach the ATA to the ISS's Starboard 1 truss.

The delay in getting the bolt in place meant that NASA "deferred the nitrogen and ammonia fluid connections and the retrieval of micrometeoroid debris shields that had been planned for this spacewalk".

Anderson (pictured) and Mastracchio did, though, wrap the electrical connections to the ATA, which forms part of the ISS's cooling system. ®

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