International Space Station Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Mike Barratt completed a 4-hour, 54 minute spacewalk at 8:46 a.m. EDT Friday to prepare the Zvezda service module for the arrival of a new Russian module. The spacewalk was the seventh for Padalka and the first for Barratt.

The spacewalkers installed docking antennas, a docking target and electrical connectors for the Kurs automated rendezvous equipment. Barratt then rode on the end of the Strela boom, a manually operated crane, to take photographs of the antennas.

This outfitting of gear was in preparation for the arrival of the Russian Mini-Research Module-2, or MRM2, later this year. The MRM2 will dock automatically to the zenith port of Zvezda and will serve as an additional docking port for Russian vehicles.

The start of the spacewalk was delayed to 3:52 a.m. as Russian ground teams analyzed data from the Russian Orlan spacesuits that showed slightly high levels of carbon dioxide. The spacewalkers said they felt fine.

Padalka, the lead spacewalker or EV1, wore the suit with red stripes. Barratt, EV2, wore the blue-striped suit.

A second “internal” spacewalk by Padalka and Barratt will be conducted June 10 to reposition an internal docking mechanism in the Zvezda service module for the arrival of the MRM2.

“A group of NASA students collaborated to create the greatest rap video ever released by NASA. Well, its the only one, but under that definition, it is the greatest. Its also technically the worst. Take your pick.” Enjoy.

Lyrics: ISS BABY

Yo JSC lets kick it
ISS baby (x2)

All right stop, collaborate the station
NASAs back with a brand new mission
Engines fire Im holding on tightly
Orbiting earth daily and nightly
How long will it go YO! I dont know
Constellations next Fo SHO
To the extreme, put up the solar panels
Power the station the commandas gonna handle
SPACE its the final frontier
Who gonna get us there, engineers
NASA to the moon by twenty twenty
Anything less than the best is a felony
Love it or leave it, this is our fate
We goin do it, this kid dont play
If there was a problem yo Id solve it
Check out the sun while our earth revolves it.

ISS baby (x4)

Now that the shuttle is dumping
All the crew kicks in and the parties are bumpin
Sick to the point and the joints be achin
It may look easy, dont be mistaken
Moving them not so quick with gimbles
Take out the parts and start to assemble
All the modules like Node 3 and Kibo
Astro or Cosmo, they all do it so pro
Flyin up in L.E.O.
With the screen shade down so they can see below
Controllers on standby everythings alright!
Do they stop? No they just switch guys
Shuttle launching til we say stop
Progress, Soyuz keeping us at the top
We launch ahead, Hey
Reppin all ova 2-1-0-1 NASA Parkway
NASAs hot working things like Cassini
Projects here are anything but teeny
Jealous cause our jobs sublime
Rocket scientists showin off we can rhyme.
Working it all for the long haul
Everyone ready to drop it when the phone calls
Expeditions keeping it swell
Up in the lab slash space hotel
Streaking across the sky real fast
The space station making a pass
Vector to vector, they keep it intact
Greatest global endeavor, aint that the fact
Workers on the scene all up in machine
Screen it up, checking everything is routine
If there was a problem yo theyd solve it
Check out the Earth while our station revolves it

• 5/06/09 — Progress M01M/32P undocking & deorbit
• 5/07/09 — Progress M-02M/33P launch (on Soyuz-U, 51st rocket of this type)
• 5/11/09 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4)
• 5/12/09 — Progress M-02M/33P docking
• 5/27/09 — Soyuz TMA-15/19S launch
• 5/29/09 — Soyuz TMA-15/19S docking (FGB nadir)
• 6/05/09 — Russian EVA-22
• 6/10/09 — Russian EVA-23
• 6/13/09 — STS-127/Endeavour/2J/A launch – JEM EF, ELM-ES, ICC-VLD