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A Japanese and an American astronaut floated outside the International Space Station today on a spacewalk to repair the orbiting outposts robotic arm and move some equipment into storage.

The spacewalk is the first for Japanese Aerospace Agency (JAXA) astronaut Norishige Kanai, and the fourth for his US counterpart Mark Vande Hei.

The outing began when the duo switched their spacesuits to battery power before venturing out into the vacuum of space. It is expected to last six and a half hours.