Two U.S. astronauts floated outside the International Space Station on Tuesday for a hastily planned spacewalk to replace a computer that failed on Saturday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. Station commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Jack Fischer left at around 7:30 a.m. EDT/1130 GMT as the orbiting outpost sailed 250 miles (400 km) over the Philippine Sea, just south of Tokyo. Whitson headed to the center backbone of the station's exterior framework where the failed computer is located. While Whitson replaced the failed computer, Fischer installed a pair of wireless communications antennas onto the outside of the U.S Destiny laboratory, one of three research modules aboard the $100 billion station, a project of 15 nations. Whitson and former station flight engineer Shane Kimbrough installed the failed computer during a March 30 spacewalk.

Source: dna May 23, 2017 13:30 UTC