Astronauts Mike Foreman and Bobby Satcher moved so quickly through their assigned tasks on the first spacewalk of the STS-129 mission at the International Space Station (ISS) Nov. 19 that they were able to finish a major get-ahead job as well.

The two mission specialists from the space shuttle Atlantis completed their planned work almost two hours early, and overcame some recalcitrant hardware to finish setting up a payload platform on the main station truss as well.

Most of the work in the extravehicular activity (EVA) involved getting the space station ready for the day when shuttles will not longer be flying. The two EVA astronauts started their day outside by transferring a spare S-band antenna from the orbiter's payload bay to the Z-1 truss section, where it will wait until it is needed.

They also lubricated the snare wires on grapple fixtures on the station's mobile base system and the robotic arm on Japan's Kibo laboratory module, repositioned a cable on the Unity pressurized node to set it up for the planned arrival of the Tranquility Node next year, and replaced a handrail on Unity with a bracket for an ammonia coolant line to serve Tranquility.

With that work out of the way, they moved to deploy a payload attach system on the Earth-facing side of the S-3 truss element. The job, which has proved difficult for EVA teams elsewhere on the station, required some hammering and a chilldown while the ISS moved through orbital darkness before the platform could be unfolded. It will be used later to hold external payloads.

Even counting the extra work, the EVA lasted only six hours, 37 minutes. It had been planned for six-and-a-half hours without the payload attach system deployment.

Meanwhile, experts at Mission Control Center-Houston finished analyzing imagery and other data from the shuttle's ascent on Nov. 16, the laser inspection with the shuttle's robotic arm on Nov. 17 and the digital telephotography from the backflip maneuver as Atlantis approached the station on Nov. 18. They found nothing that would warrant a second look, and so canceled the "focused inspection" that had tentatively been scheduled for Nov. 20.

Spacewalk photo: NASA TV