Toxic Ammonia Misses Spacewalking Astronauts

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four or five flakes of toxic ammonia fell from a cooling line cap Wednesday but apparently didn’t touch two U.S. astronauts conducting the first of three spacewalks planned outside the international space station over the next nine days.

The leak occurred late in the almost eight-hour spacewalk, as astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams disconnected and prepared to stow away two fluid lines that had been connected to an ammonia reservoir outside the space station.

Tests in the airlock later showed no contamination, and the spacewalk officially ended at 6:09 p.m. EST, seven hours and 55 minutes after it started.

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