The first space walk Expedition Four crew's five-month tour of duty began at 2:59 p.m. CST and ended at 9:02 p.m. CST, lasting a total of 6 hours, 3 minutes. Monday's spacewalk was the thirty-second in support of space station assembly, the seventh such excursion conducted from the station itself, and the sixth based out of the station's Russian segment. The total amount of time spent on space station-based spacewalks now stands at 29 hours, 04 minutes, and the total spacewalking time spent on station construction at 196 hours, 19 minutes.

After exiting the station from the Russian Pirs docking compartment, Onufrienko and Walz assembled an extension for a Russian cargo boom that had been previously installed on Pirs. They used the operational cargo crane, called Strela 1 (Strela is the Russian word for arrow), to get into position to detach and relocate a similar crane temporarily stored on the outside of the Unity-to-Zarya connecting tunnel. Known as Strela 2, this second crane was moved back alongside Pirs and attached to a base point on the opposite side of the docking compartment and airlock at 6:31 p.m. CST.

The first piece of Strela 2 had been delivered and installed in May 1999, and the second piece in May 2000. On future spacewalks, the two cranes may be used to maneuver equipment and spacewalkers.

Onufrienko and Walz also installed an amateur radio antenna on a handrail at the end of the Zvezda service module. The antenna is one of four that eventually will allow space station crew members to make "ham" radio contacts from the comfort of their living quarters inside Zvezda. Currently, the amateur radio station is inside the Zarya module.

The next spacewalk of the expedition - to be conducted by Onufrienko and Bursch - is targeted for Jan. 25. The plan for this spacewalk currently includes installation of the remaining three amateur radio antennae and thruster deflector shields on the end of Zvezda.

For the latest information on the crew's activities aboard the space station, future launch dates and times, as well as station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, please visit the Web at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov. Details on station science operations can be found on the Web site of the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. at: http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov.

The next ISS status report will be issued Jan. 18.

News from Commercial Space Watch