On Saturday, International Space Station (ISS) US engineer Sunita Williams set a record for the longest uninterrupted space flight by a woman, surpassing the 188-day and four-hour mark set by her compatriot Shannon Lucid in 1996.
Asked by reporters later in a video conference how she celebrated the milestone, Williams said she was too busy: "I think I had a couple of wrenches in my hand and that's pretty much how I celebrated."
It was not the first record set by Williams -- called "Suni" in a NASA statement -- who began her space journey December 10.Earlier this year, she logged 29 hours and 17 minutes in four space walks, eclipsing the record held by astronaut Kathryn Thornton for most space-walk time by a woman.
And in April, she became the first astronaut to run a marathon in orbit -- on a treadmill, finishing it in four hours and 24 minutes.
A former US Navy test pilot, Williams fought in the 1991 Gulf WarMission specialists Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson spent much of the day Saturday preparing the spacesuits and tools they needed for Sunday's spacewalk.
They also reviewed procedures for the six-hour walk, which was added to the schedule after Atlantis arrived at the station. The shuttle is due to return to Earth on Thursday after a 13-day mission.
Earlier Saturday, astronauts closed a hole in the shuttle Atlantis's thermal blanket.
"The Mission Control Center in Houston told the STS-117 crew today that space shuttle Atlantis's thermal protection system is cleared for re-entry" when the shuttle returns with Williams on board, NASA said in a statement.
The crew on the station also fixed two main computers aboard the ISS after an unprecedented 48-hour systems breakdown.
Astronauts used a jumper cable to bypass a faulty power switch and let the computers run overnight.
With the computers off line, the station's gyroscopes kept the orbiting laboratory on an even keel, with the propulsion system of the docked shuttle Atlantis providing backup, NASA said.
NASA associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier said there was only "an extremely remote chance" that the problems could force the shuttle and ISS crews to abandon the station.
Russia may send its cargo vessel Progress to the ISS earlier, on July 23 instead of its planned August launch, to deliver spare parts for the computers, an official said.
During an eight-hour space walk, astronaut Danny Olivas used surgical staples to pin down a corner of the heat blanket, which had come loose as the shuttle reached escape velocity from the Kennedy Space Center on June 8.NASA engineers stressed that the hand-size opening posed no threat to the crew, unlike the broken tile that caused the Columbia to break up on re-entry in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board.
That disaster was caused by breaks in the shuttle's ceramic heat shield due to foam insulation peeling off its fuel tank and striking a wing during the launch.
NASA decided to extend the current mission by two days until June 21 to make time for the repair.