The two crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) ventured out of the orbital complex on Thursday night to begin a space walk during which they will carry out nearly six hours of repairs and maintenance.

In the first of two space walks scheduled for the two crewmen since their arrival at the ISS in early April, Russian commander Pavel Vinogradov and US flight engineer Jeff Williams will reposition a cable, replace a camera and retrieve materials from a completed science experiment for return to earth.

Vinogradov, who was making his sixth space walk, and Williams, who had done a previous space walk, had spent more than two weeks collecting equipment and practicing procedures for their outing.

Plans for Vinogradov to hit a golf ball into orbit in a bid for the longest drive in history had to be ditched, as the maintenance tasks left little time for publicity stunts.

A Canadian golf club manufacturer paid Russia's space agency an undisclosed sum of money to have Vinogradov hit the gold-plated golf ball into space, but the stunt was postponed until later in the year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2006)