Astronauts take 3rd and final spacewalk

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two astronauts who were teaching math and science to middle-school students just five years ago went on a spacewalk together Monday, their path cleared of dangerous orbiting junk that had threatened the space station and shuttle.

On Sunday, the linked shuttle-station complex had to move out of the way of a 4-inch piece of debris that had been projected to come perilously close during the spacewalk.

Astronauts Joseph Acaba and Richard Arnold II had no luck trying to free up a jammed equipment storage shelf at the international space station, one of their main tasks.

Using a hammer, they managed to loosen a pin that Acaba and another astronaut accidentally inserted upside down on the platform during Saturday’s spacewalk. But the shelf mechanism would not extend into the proper position, despite repeated efforts.

“Three, two, one, go,” Arnold called out as they tugged with all their might. “Negative.”

Mission Control instructed the spacewalkers to tie the platform down using sturdy tethers.

It was the first time two former schoolteachers took a spacewalk together, and was the third and final spacewalk for shuttle Discovery’s mission.

It also was the second time out of the hatch for both Acaba and Arnold.

Their previous outings were with another astronaut, and they took pleasure in sharing this one together.

Both in their 40s, they were teaching when NASA picked them as educator-astronauts in 2004.

The two crews will part Wednesday, and Discovery will aim for a touchdown back at NASA’s spaceport Saturday.