U.S. astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday to conduct more cable work and a lubrication task. It was the second spacewalk in five days for the two National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts. A total of three spacewalks are planned over seven days to prepare the orbiting laboratory for future U.S. crew capsules. By the end of their third spacewalk, scheduled for Sunday, the astronauts will have routed more than 230 meters of cable on the station's exterior. NASA considers it the most complicated cable task undertaken at the 16-year-old outpost. The extensive rewiring is needed ahead of this year's arrival of two docking ports, designed to accommodate U.S. commercial crew capsules still being developed. NASA expects the first port to arrive in June and the second in December. Boeing and SpaceX are designing new capsules that should begin ferrying ISS astronauts from Cape Canaveral in 2017. There have been no manned flights from the Florida complex since NASA retired its space-shuttle program in 2011.
