Two astronauts began a spacewalk yesterday to install equipment to enable the European Space Agency to send its first cargo ship to the International Space Station, mission control said. The spacewalk will leave the orbiting laboratory unmanned for about six hours while Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov and US astronaut Leroy Chiao prepare the docking mechanism for the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). ?They have opened the hatch,» a spokeswoman from Russian mission control said. The main aim of the spacewalk is to install antennae to help the future docking.?

The astronauts will also launch an experimental satellite ? by simply ?throwing it like a basketball? when they get out of the station ? but the majority of their time will be taken up working on the docking equipment. The first ATV, named the Jules Verne, is due to be launched next year and will provide a welcome helping hand as Russia struggles with the burden of having to launch all craft to the station while the US shuttles are grounded.

The ATVs are capable of carrying much bigger loads of food, equipment and fuel than Russia?s Progress cargo ship, which is the only way of getting supplies to the astronauts now. Russia has launched all manned and cargo vehicles to keep the station running for more than two years since the United States withdrew its shuttle fleet after the deadly Columbia accident. NASA has said it plans to return the shuttles to service from May or June.