Astronauts take 1st spacewalk of shuttle mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Two astronauts are spacewalking outside the International Space Station.

Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson, members of Discovery's visiting crew, ventured out early Friday on the first spacewalk of their mission. They will remove a new ammonia tank from the shuttle and disconnect the station's old tank that supplied the cooling system. It will take three spacewalks to complete the job.

Mastracchio and Anderson were supposed to do some battery work on the far left end of the space station, along the sprawling power truss. But NASA canceled the task this week because of concern the two might get shocked. The work instead will be carried out on the next shuttle flight, once astronauts' suits are better protected.