International Space Station crew performs spacewalk

[February 04, 2010]  MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's Mission Control says two cosmonauts have taken a spacewalk to get a new module ready to dock with the International Space Station.

Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin says that Maxim Suraev and Oleg Kotov left the station at 1:05 p.m. Moscow time (1010 GMT, 5:10 a.m. EST) Thursday. He said their mission is expected to last nearly six hours.

Lyndin said the two cosmonauts will work on the Russian Poisk module to link it to the station's communications and power systems and prepare it for future dockings with the Russian spacecraft. The module was launched in November.

Americans Jeff Williams and Timothy J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi of Japan are supporting the mission from inside the space station.

[Associated Press]

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