HOUSTON First they couldnt wait to get started.

Then they raced through their chores at breakneck speed, picking up a bit of stray Salsa music on their headsets along the way.

When it was all over, Atlantis speedy orbital repairmen Jim Voss and Jeff Williams left the International Space Station (ISS) a much healthier spacecraft at least on the outside at the end of their six-hour 44-minute spacewalk early Monday.

Jim Voss, left, and Jeff Williams assemble the Russian "Strela" crane before moving it into position on the International Space Station.

"I dont think it could have gone much better," Jeff Bantle, chief flight director, told reporters at a briefing after the spacewalk. "These tasks went just as planned. Overall, the mission is going very well and any problems we have had are very minor."

The only hitch, near the end of the spacewalk, was a handhold that wouldnt fit in its intended spot on the side of the station due to a cable blocking its path. Voss bolted the piece into another position after talking with Mission Control.

Tonight, they and their five Atlantis crew mates get to open the hatch and inspect the stations interior as the first humans to venture into the ISS in nearly a year.

It wasnt all business, though, for the spacewalking team. Along the way, they managed to squeeze in a few quick glimpses of the marvels around them.

"Look at that horizon. Beautiful," said Williams, a 42-year-old Army lieutenant colonel making his first trip into space.

Jeff Williams, left, removes fasteners holding a boom for the Russian-built "Strela" crane inside Atlantis' payload bay while Voss adjusts his pistol-grip tool. The tool operates much like an electric drill.

Towering over the work site was the seven-story station standing on its end in the shuttles cargo bay. As the spacewalkers went about their work, the 100-ton spacecraft and the 30-ton station soared 209 miles (336 kilometers) above Earth at a speed of 5 miles (8 kilometers) a second.

"Where in the world are we?" Williams asked at one point.

Voss replied that it looked like Australias Great Barrier Reef.

"Weve flown over some very pretty places Id like to go on vacation," Voss said. "There are some beautiful atolls down there to do some diving. Some people might think were already on vacation."

Like pent-up teenagers who could wait no longer, the two men started their spacewalk more than 35 minutes ahead of schedule, at 9:48 p.m. EDT Sunday (Monday, 01:48 GMT).

Voss, a 51-year-old Army colonel making his second spacewalk, rode the 50-foot- (15-meter-) long robotic arm around the station in much the same way as a "cherry picker" would move a telephone repairman on Earth.

Astronaut Mary Ellen Weber, a 37-year-old chemist, operated the arm from inside Atlantis while pilot Scott "Doc" Horowitz, a 43-year-old Air Force colonel, coordinated the spacewalkers movements.

Jim Voss attaches the Russian "Strela" crane together before moving it to the station.

With the ISS blocking her view, Weber had to rely on camera angles and radioed instructions from Voss to determine where to position the arm for maximum assistance.

Williams, meanwhile, climbed by hand around the station, gripping handrails bolted to the stations metallic skin.

"Jeffs a natural-born spacewalker," said Jim Newman, a veteran spacewalker, watching from Mission Control in Houston.

First Voss and Williams inspected the troublesome U.S.-made construction crane jutting from the side of the ISS. The crane had come loose after it was installed during the last station extravehicular activity (EVA) nearly a year ago.

"Definitely in soft-dock position," Williams radioed to Horowitz. So the spacewalkers simply removed it and reset it in its socket making sure this time it was latched.

Jim Voss guides two parts of the "Strela" crane together as he rides the shuttle's 50-foot robot arm.

NASA managers needed to have the crane locked in place so that the crucial Russian-made service module called Zvezda ("Star") can be safely docked by remote control. The service module, a propulsion unit that also contains the crew quarters, is planned to be launched in July atop a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

"We dont want anything happening that might change the center of gravity [of the ISS] or create any leanings we cant control," said Paul Hill, lead flight director for the ISS.

Voss and Williams breezed into the next task finishing the assembly of a Russian-built construction crane.

Jim Voss, upper left, and Jeff Williams attach two components of the "Strela" crane before moving the unit to the station.

Along the way, they had to contend with a bit of radio interference music and conversation as the shuttle sailed high over the South American continent.

"We can hear all the South American cab drivers," Horowitz told them. "But we can hardly hear you."

Jim Voss makes adjustments to his pistol grip tool, which he will use to turn bolts on the Russian-built "Strela" crane.

The spacewalkers then moved on to finish assembly of the Russian Strela ("Arrow") crane. They installed a telescoping boom on it as they dangled high off the station with the blue and white Earth below.

The spacewalkers early start and quick successes with their repair and construction tasks left plenty of time for them to view the station from space.

"You guys are way ahead of schedule," said Horowitz. "If you want to take a break, get your cameras out."

They got a chance to play orbital tourist, snapping photographs of the ISS so engineers on Earth could study its condition after 17 months in orbit.

Jim Voss at the end of the shuttle's 50-foot-long robotic arm as he moves to assemble the Russian "Strela" crane.

The spacewalkers later replaced a faulty communications antenna in quick order, winding up more than an hour ahead of schedule.

Finally, the spacewalkers fastened eight handholds to the side of the station and installed a camera cable before heading back inside the shuttle.

NASAs first spacewalk of the century was the fifth outside excursion performed in support of the ISS. Station planners estimate it could take 155 more spacewalks and some 40 more shuttle missions by late 2005 to complete and maintain the ISS.

The latest spacewalk came some 21 hours after Atlantis pulled up and docked with the ISS following a two-day chase.

After Monday nights hatch opening, the astronauts will spend most of the week making emergency electrical repairs and hauling aboard supplies needed for the first resident crew that is scheduled to arrive in November.

That crew, NASA hopes, will kick off what is expected to a permanent human presence in orbit around Earth.

"We are going to have people hundreds of years from now wondering what it was like when we first began exploring space," Weber said. "This mission is one small part of it but its absolutely critical."

Atlantis is scheduled to end its 10-day mission with a landing early on Memorial Day at Floridas Kennedy Space Center.