CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A spacewalking astronaut put aside the impending birth of his daughter and blazed through his first-ever venture outside the International Space Station yesterday.
Expectant father Randolph Bresnik and Michael Foreman were so far ahead despite their late start and interrupted sleep the night before -- false fire and decompression alarms jolted them awake -- that their commander handed them extra work.
"Way to kick butt," said commander Charles Hobaugh, a Marine.
The spacewalkers installed new antennas, relocated a monitor for electrical hazards, set up an attachment for a spectrometer due to arrive next year, and hooked up a wireless video system for spacewalkers' helmet cameras. Then they released another payload platform.
Baby Bresnik had yet to make an appearance by the time the six-hour spacewalk ended yesterday afternoon. Bresnik's wife, Rebecca, had been expected to give birth to their second child Friday, back home in Houston. They have a 3-year-old son, adopted from Ukraine.
"The Bresnik launch countdown clock has got some unpredictable and variable holds in it. So it's very hard to predict. But nothing new for you today," flight director Brian Smith told reporters eager for details.
The astronauts and Mission Control agreed before yesterday's spacewalk to hold off on any news if the birth occurred while the men were outside. Everyone wanted Bresnik, 42, a Marine, focused on the spacewalk.
"Absolutely, he was 100 percent focused and I don't think it was hard for Randy," Smith said. "Randy's a NASA astronaut. He knows how to compartmentalize."
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