MOSCOW, July 30 (RIA Novosti) - Two Discovery shuttle astronauts, American Steve Robinson and Japanese Soichi Noguchi, have opened the shuttle's hatch and stepped out into space, a NASA specialist said.
"Work outside of the craft will continue for around six and a half hours. During this time, the astronauts will test a special glue for fixing the shuttle's heatshield tiles, and restore power to a failed control moment gyroscope, which is used to maintain the ISS's correct position in space", he said.
Robinson and Noguchi will test methods for repairing external tiles using a sealant-releasing gun and on a sample panel and applying a hardening paste to damaged sample tiles.
Astronauts from the Discovery shuttle are working to retain a balance in the contributions of Roskosmos and NASA in servicing the ISS.
