Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON - Astronauts Mike Fossum and Ron Garan completed the third and final spacewalk of Discovery's mission to the International Space Station.

During the six-hour, 33-minute spacewalk, Fossum and Garan accomplished all of the planned objectives as well as many extra tasks. It began at 8:55 a.m. and concluded at 3:28 p.m.

Together they replaced a nitrogen tank on the station's starboard truss with a new one. Garan worked from the end of the station robotic arm, operated by astronauts Karen Nyberg and Akihiko Hoshide.

From there the spacewalkers moved onto separate tasks. Fossum returned to the port Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) that he had inspected during the second spacewalk. He took samples of particulate matter from inside the joint, using a strip of tape that will be returned to Earth for engineers to analyze.

He then removed thermal insulation from the Kibo robotic arm's wrist and elbow cameras and launch locks from one of the Kibo windows. He deployed debris shields on Kibo and, while in the area, tightened a bolt holding a television camera in place since Japanese flight controllers had noticed unexpected movement while operating the camera.

Garan retrieved a video camera that had been removed from the port truss during the second spacewalk. It was repaired Saturday and Garan re-installed it. Video from the camera was sent to Mission Control almost immediately.

The pair finished the spacewalk with extra tasks. Fossum installed a thermal cover on connectors on the outside of Harmony and relocated a foot restraint aid. Garan removed a launch lock on the starboard SARJ. Three of four locks were removed during this mission's spacewalks.

The crew will go to sleep at 8:02 p.m. and awaken at 4:02 a.m. Monday. The next status report will be issued at the start of the crew day, or earlier if events warrant.

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