US astronauts fix stalled rail car during spacewalk

Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Tim Kopra are expected to be outside the spacecraft for around three hours.

American space agency NASA said that two astronauts aboard the worldwide Space Station (ISS) have successfully completed their spacewalk on Monday in order to perform some repairs in the stations railcar.

In Mission Control, astronaut Mike Hopkins cautioned them to avoid making accidental contact with the rail auto since it wasn’t secured into its usual spot.

The rail vehicle s brake was believed to have become stuck unexpectedly last week after it moved about four inches (10 centimeters) from its starting point.

Russia, one of 15 nations that own and operate the station, plans to launch a new research laboratory, while the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration is preparing to install docking ports for new commercial space taxis that are slated to begin flying in 2017.

A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a Progress cargo ship blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:44 a.m. EST (0844 GMT) and is due to reach the station on Wednesday. They also retrieved tools that had been in a toolbox on the outside of the station, so they can be used for future work.

It’s the seventh spacewalk of the year.

If the brake was somehow inadvertently engaged, it may be an easy task to unstick it. The astronauts may then turn to a few other get-ahead tasks as part of their ongoing maintenance and upgrades of the ISS.

Kelly, who is nine months into a one-year mission, will be designated extravehicular activity crew member 1 (EV1) wearing the suit bearing the red stripes, and Kopra will be extravehicular activity crew member 2 (EV2) wearing the plain suit.