Two astronauts began Thursday the second spacewalk of their mission at the International Space Station to give Japan's new giant laboratory cameras and prepare the installation of a stowage unit.
Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Ron Garan ventured out of the station shortly after 1500 GMT for an excursion expected to last more than six hours.
The spacewalkers will install front and rear television cameras outside the Kibo lab, whose name means "hope" in Japanese, remove thermal covers from its robotic system and set the stage for the attachment of the stowage unit.
The cylindrical lab's stowage module, which was delivered during a shuttle mission in March, will be attached to Kibo on Friday.
The bus-sized Kibo lab was delivered by the US space shuttle Discovery this week and hooked to the station following the mission's first spacewalk on Tuesday.
Japanese astronaut AkihikoHoshide opened the 11.2-meter (36.7-feet) long facility on Wednesday, giving the station its biggest room and providing Japan with its first manned space system.
