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HOUSTON (BNS): Atlantis astronauts changed out four of the six 375-pound batteries on the International Space Station’s port 6 truss, Wednesday.

Mission Specialists Stephen Bowen and Michael Good completed their seven-hour spacewalk at 1:47 pm (local time). The spacewalk was the fifth for Bowen and the third for Good.

The astronauts got off to an early start due to the additional task to remove a cable snag in the orbiter boom sensor system’s pan and tilt mechanism. Bowen accomplished that task in less than 30 minutes, while Good began work with the batteries.

Mission Control has declared the heat shield inspection mechanism fully functional.

Atlantis Pilot Tony Antonelli was the intravehicular officer, providing guidance and advice to the spacewalkers. Mission Specialists Reisman and Piers Sellers operated the station’s Canadarm2.

Spacewalkers took each battery from the cargo carrier held by the station arm, installed it in a space from which they had removed an old battery, then bolted the old battery into the cargo carrier for return to Earth.

The fourth old battery was stowed temporarily on the truss. It will be taken to the cargo carrier during the Friday spacewalk.

The shuttle and its crew of six docked with the orbiting space lab Sunday, about 350 kilometres above the South Pacific.

The voyage is the last scheduled mission for Atlantis, which first launched in 1985 and has logged some 115 million miles in its career.