Astronauts step into history books in last spacewalk

Greg Chamitoff prepares to get in the foot restraint on the International Space Station’s robot arm on Friday. CAPE CANAVERAL - Arabstoday   Two astronauts stepped into the history books on the fourth and final spacewalk of Nasa's next-to-last shuttle mission yesterday, installing an extension pole at the International Space Station and officially ending its construction.
"Space station assembly is complete," space shuttle Endeavour's commander, Mark Kelly, announced once the boom was securely latched.
Spacewalkers Mike Fincke and Gregory Chamitoff teamed up with robot arm operator Gregory Johnson to attach the 50ft boom to the orbiting lab.
Fincke and Chamitoff are the last shuttle crew members to perform a spacewalk. All future spacewalks, including one during the final shuttle voyage this summer, will be performed by full-time space station residents.
Another milestone was within close reach: 1,000 hours of spacewalking at the orbiting outpost.
Astronauts had logged 995 hours outside for space station assembly and maintenance. With a planned excursion of six hours  the 159th spacewalk to build the station and keep it humming since 1998  Fincke and Chamitoff were poised to hit the 1,000 hour mark before going back inside.
From / Gulf News