CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Two American astronauts have successfully completed their third spacewalk in a little over a week. But for the second time, one of them had to deal with water in his helmet.
After returning to the International Space Station, Terry Virts said it was just a bit of water, "not a big deal," and he didn't even need a towel. After that happened on the last spacewalk, engineers concluded it was the result of condensation during the re-pressurization of the air lock.
Virts and Butch Wilmore installed two sets of antennas and 400 feet of cable today, after unreeling 364 feet of cable in their two previous outings. The advance work was needed to prepare for a manned spacecraft under development by Boeing and SpaceX.
NASA is paying Boeing and SpaceX nearly $7 billion to develop spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to the space station. The first manned flight is targeted for 2017. New docking ports will fly up later this year.
Virts and Wilmore's first spacewalk was Feb. 21. Their second was Wednesday. NASA hasn't conducted such a quick succession of spacewalks since its former shuttle days.
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