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Spacewalkers complete work outside station

Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Ron Garan completed the third STS-124 spacewalk at 4:28 p.m. EDT Sunday. Their excursion lasted six hours and 33 minutes

Image above: STS-124 Mission Specialist Ron Garan works outside the International Space Station during the mission's third spacewalk. Photo credit: NASA TV

Fossum and Garan accomplished all planned activities and several "get-ahead" tasks. They exchanged a depleted nitrogen tank assembly for a new one, removed thermal covers and launch locks from the Kibo laboratory, and reinstalled a repaired television camera. Fossum also retrieved samples of a dust-like substance from the left solar alpha rotary joint for analysis by experts on the ground.

The spacewalk was Fossum's sixth, Garan's third, the 112th spacewalk devoted to space station assembly and maintenance, and the 197th by U.S. astronauts

The STS-124 mission also saw an exchange of radio hams, with Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ, joining the Expedition 17 crew and trading places with Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, KE5HAE