Iowa woman walks in space

Astronaut and Iowa native Peggy Whitson took her first stroll in open space this morning. Whitson and Russian crewmate Valery Korzun spent four-and-a-half hours outside the International Space Station, protecting the service module from space junk. NASA spokesman John Ira Petty says the spacewalk went very well. Petty says six cosmic debris shields were installed on the Zvezda module: that’s Russian for “star.” It serves as the space station’s hub and crew quarters. The shields are designed to protect the module from orbiting space debris or micrometeoroids. Petty says while this was Whitson’s first spacewalk, she was well-trained and in good hands. Whitson is a Mount Ayr native and is scheduled to be aboard the station through fall. She’s been in space 69 days.