Astronauts Take 2nd Spacewalk

(AP) - Two astronauts who were teaching math and science to middle school students just 5 years ago went on a spacewalk together today, their path cleared of dangerous orbiting junk that had threatened the space station and shuttle. It's the first time two former schoolteachers have been on a spacewalk together, and is the third and final spacewalk for shuttle Discovery's mission. More»

Robot arm, Discovery crew members team up to lay groundwork

(NEWSER) - Two spacewalking astronauts are preparing the enormous Japanese-made Kibo lab for eventual installation on the International Space Station, the Houston Chronicle reports. After getting a late start this morning because of a communications malfunction, Mike Fossum and Ron Garan sped through their checklists and got back ahead of schedule. The expedition is expected to take almost 7 hours. More»

Astronaut Andrew Feustel has an eye irritation ... 220 miles up

(AP) - Eyelash, space dust, tears … who knows what was, but an astronaut today got something in his eye that stung "like crazy"—and almost interrupted a spacewalk. Several minutes later, Andrew Feustel assured everyone his eye was feeling better and the third spacewalk of the Endeavour continued as planned. The incident came as the spacewalk hit the five-hour mark. Feustel and Mike Fincke had just finished running power cables from the US side of the orbiting house to the Russian half. Feustel managed to rub his eye against a strap in his helmet and said that helped. More»

Bottle will remain sealed, hit museums

(NEWSER) - The Discovery crew will leave the International Space Station today for the first of two spacewalks—and one of their missions is to capture a sample of space in a metal bottle. The bottle will be given to Japan's space agency, which says it will remain sealed and make the museum rounds to provide "a conduit between humans and space." The astronauts will also put some finishing touches on the space station, the Christian Science Monitor reports. More»

'A giant leap forward for tinmankind'

(NEWSER) - International Space Station astronauts won't need to worry about the newest crew member hogging the oxygen or clogging the toilet. Robonaut 2 will become the first humanoid robot in space when he heads to the station this week on the space shuttle Discovery's final mission, AP reports. "R2" will be put through a series of tests before being put to work helping astronauts with chores inside and outside the station. More»