Astronauts Pierce Sellers and Michael Possum completed the first spacewalk and returned to the shuttle and the space station at 23:50 Israel time (Saturday) after about seven and a half hours in space.
The first of the two spacewalk tasks was to install a device that would block the blade of the International Space Station's mobile transporter. The familiar will prevent the blade from cutting the power and data cables connecting the mobile conveyor to the rest of the station. After the installation was complete they reconnected the cable. Their work allowed the mobile conveyor to move the station's robotic arm along a structure, but this will only be physically possible after the wheel that rotates the cable is replaced during the expected second spacewalk on Monday.
The two then performed the well-publicized experiment of tying one of them to the end of the shuttle's robotic arm to make repairs to the heat shield.
