ISS crew start spacewalk

MOSCOW, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Two crew members of the International Space
Station (ISS) began their spacewalk on Friday, the Mission Control Center
outside Moscow said.

The main task of the spacewalk is to install a docking port for Russia's
small research module MIM-2, a space vehicle scheduled to blast off in autumn,
said Valery Lyndin, spokesman for the Mission Control Center.

The pair, Russian Commander Gennady Padalka and U.S. Flight Engineer
Michael Barrett, also planned to install an antenna to aid docking during the
over five-hour spacewalk, Lyndin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news
agency.

The spacewalk was delayed by about one hour because the astronauts spent
more time to check the pressurization of the adapter section and the state of
all systems of Russia's new Orlan-MK spacesuits.

Three astronauts joined the three crew members already on board the space
station in late May and formed a six-member permanent crew for the first
time.