Russian Cosmonauts Conduct Spacewalk

Two Russian cosmonauts ventured out on a spacewalk Monday and hooked up a crane, ladder and other equipment to the international space station's latest addition. It was the first spacewalk conducted outside the station without a shuttle present. Mikhail Tyurin and then Vladimir Dezhurov floated out of the Russian docking compartment that was brought up last month on an unmanned Russian rocket. The 16-foot-long (4.8-meter-long) module, named Pirs, Russian for Pier, doubles as an air lock. Their American commander, NASA astronaut Frank Culbertson, monitored their work from inside the station. Russian Mission Control near Moscow supervised the spacewalk, which began in midmorning and lasted five hours later, the Russia Journal wrote.