Astronauts breeze through final spacewalk

Spacewalking astronauts stashed an inspection boom to the outside of the International Space Station on Saturday to assure the next shuttle crew can scrutinize their ship for damage.

Typically, crews carry their own inspection gear to and from orbit, but the next load coming up to the station is so big there is no room in the shuttle for the sensor-studded 15-meter boom needed to check for heat shield damage.

Instead, the shuttle Discovery crew, which is expected to blast off on May 25 with Japan's 11-metre-long Kibo laboratory, will retrieve the boom from its temporary storage location on the outside of the station.