HOUSTON - Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin retracted a stuck antenna on a cargo spacecraft during a 6-hour, 18-minute spacewalk that ended at 10:45 a.m. CST Thursday.

On Oct. 26, the antenna failed to retract when the Progress vehicle docked to the station's Zvezda Service Module. Moving the antenna was necessary to ensure it would not interfere with the Progress undocking in April.

Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin had planned to release the antenna latch with a punch and a hammer. When clearance issues prevented that, they cut struts supporting the antenna. That enabled them to partly retract the antenna and secure it with wire ties. They reported it had about six inches of clearance from Zvezda, adequate for undocking.

An International Space Station Expedition 14 ARISS school contact has been planned with students at Vasant Valley School, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, India on Saturday, 24 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 08:50 UTC.

The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and WH6PN. The contact should be audible in Hawaii. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. Additional listening options are listed below. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

IRLP - Connect to the IRLP reflector 9010.
You may also connect via the IRLP Discovery website at http://www.discoveryreflector.ca/listen.htm.