Two US astronauts have made a rare Christmas Eve spacewalk to repair the International Space Station's cooling system.
It was the second spacewalk in four days for astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins.
The pair removed a faulty ammonia pump at the International Space Station during Saturday's outing.
It is only the second Christmas Eve spacewalk in NASA history. Pic: NasaThey have now installed a new pump in what is hoped will be the final fix at the system.
First, the astronauts bolted down the pump, then worked to connect ammonia fluid lines. Last was a series of electrical connectors.
"It's like Christmas morning opening up a little present here," Mr Mastracchio said as he checked his toolkit.
Later, as he worked to remove the spare pump from its storage shelf, he commented: "Now it really feels like I'm unwrapping a present."
The ISS flies about 250 miles above Earth. Pic: NasaThe spacewalk had been originally planned for Monday, but was delayed by one day to give Mr Mastracchio time to switch to another suit.
He inadvertently hit a water switch in the air lock at the end of Saturday's excursion, and a bit of water entered his suit, making it unusable this week.
It is only the second Christmas Eve spacewalk in NASA history, the previous one in 1999 during a Hubble Space Telescope repair mission.
One of two cooling systems on the US side of the space station - a $100bn project of 15 nations - shut down on December 11 due to a faulty valve.
The cooling system shut down on December 11. Pic: NasaThe fault prompted the six-man crew to turn off all non-essential equipment, including experiments.
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