Advertisement

Astronauts install batteries on station

Atlantis' cabin and forward cargo bay and a section of the International Space Station are seen while the two spacecraft remain docked, photographed during the STS-132 mission's first spacewalk, at the International Space Station. UPI/NASA.
1 of 2 | Atlantis' cabin and forward cargo bay and a section of the International Space Station are seen while the two spacecraft remain docked, photographed during the STS-132 mission's first spacewalk, at the International Space Station. UPI/NASA. | License Photo

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 21 (UPI) -- U.S. astronauts Mike Good and Garrett Reisman Friday installed the last two of 12 batteries that needed replacing on the International Space Station.

Six of the 375-pound batteries were replaced in July and four others on Wednesday before Good and Garrett installed the final two batteries during a spacewalk Friday.

Advertisement

The 12 batteries, worth $3.5 million, had a six-year life expectancy but performed for 10 years, NASA officials said.

Good and Reisman also installed an ammonia cooling line during Friday's third and final spacewalk of their mission aboard the shuttle Atlantis. Before the walk, they entered the U.S. Quest airlock aboard the space station for depressurization, Florida Today reported.

"It's like standing on your bathroom scale waiting for the needle to go down," one of astronauts said during an audio feed to NASA.

Latest Headlines