Odishatv Bureau
Houston: Spacewalking Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her Japanese colleague, armed with improvised tools, on Wednesday successfully installed a critical power-switching box at the International Space Station on their second attempt.

NASA`s Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency flight engineer Akihiko Hoshide successfully completed the installation of a Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) that was hampered last week by a possible misalignment and damaged bolt threads, American space agency said.

During their spacewalk last week, 46-year-old Williams and Hoshide were unable to install the new MBSU. They ventured outside their home in orbit again on Wednesday to finish the job.

NASA said the astronauts are now moving on to a get-ahead task postponed from last week`s excursion.

Williams and Hoshide used improvised tools to assist with their MBSU installation tasks. The tools were used to clean the bolts and receptacles and repair the bolt threads, it said.

Last week`s spacewalk lasted eight hours and 17 minutes making it the third longest in US spaceflight history. It was originally scheduled for 6.5 hours before mission controllers and the astronauts struggled to install the MBSU.

This is the sixth spacewalk undertaken by Williams, who is now the world`s most experienced female spacewalker.

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