Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – After a seven-hour spacewalk, the newly installed Kibo laboratory is closer to its final configuration.

Mission specialists Mike Fossum and Ron Garan exited the space station at 10:04 a.m., nearly 30 minutes ahead of schedule, to begin the second spacewalk, which focused on external outfitting of the new module. They also worked on preparations for the exchange of a Nitrogen Tank Assembly, retrieved a failed camera and inspected an array mechanism.

Once the two left the airlock, they made their way to the Kibo laboratory module where they installed cameras that will help monitor external robotic and payload operations. While in the vicinity, the two added insulating material to some areas of the module and removed thermal covers and insulation from others, specifically the Japanese robotic arm and the hatch on top of the module. A smaller component of the Japanese Experiment Module will be repositioned to that hatch location Friday.

With the Kibo tasks behind them, the two proceeded to tasks in preparation for their next spacewalk. They loosened bolts holding two Nitrogen Tank Assemblies in place on the station's truss. Those tanks will be swapped during Sunday's spacewalk. They also retrieved a failed external television camera from the port truss. That camera's power supply will be replaced once inside the space station and the camera will be returned to its external location during Sunday's third spacewalk.

Fossum then performed an inspection of the left Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, which has been performing perfectly. He relayed to the ground team that he did not see any shavings or debris, but took photos which will be sent to the ground for engineers to review. The spacewalk ended at 5:15 p.m. after seven hours, 11 minutes.

The rest of the station and shuttle crew members continued with work inside the docked complex transferring supplies and equipment, outfitting the interior of Kibo and its robotics console, transferring racks into the new lab and readying for tomorrow's relocation of the logistics module onto the lab.

The crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 9:32 p.m. and awaken at 5:32 a.m. Friday.

The next status report will be issued after the crew awakens, or earlier if events warrant.

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