Astronauts making new parking spot

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Spacewalking astronauts prepped the International Space Station on Friday for a new parking spot reserved for commercial crew capsules. The 400-km-high complex already has one docking port in place for the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner, which should start carrying up astronauts as early as next year. Friday’s spacewalk set the stage for a second docking location. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough disconnected all four cables from an old docking port, using some extra force on one. He looped a spare tether around the balky cable and pulled, and off it came. “Nicely done, Shane,” Mission Control radioed. On Sunday, flight controllers in Houston will move the old port to a location that will provide better clearance for the future ships. Then next Thursday, the crew will conduct another spacewalk to secure the unit. A new docking device — similar to one installed last summer — will fly up late this year or early next, and hook onto this port. Until the new crew capsules come online, U.S. astronauts will have to keep riding Russian rockets to orbit. Also on the spacewalkers’ to-do list Friday: Replace a pair of cameras and grease latching mechanisms on the end of the big robot arm. The Associated Press