WASHINGTON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Two NASA astronauts performed a 6-hour spacewalk Thursday outside the International Space Station, according to the United States space agency NASA.

Astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold ventured outside of the International Space Station for their first spacewalk since their arrival on March 23 aboard the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev.

They completed the spacewalk at 3:43 p.m. American Eastern Daylight Time, lasting 6 hours and 10 minutes, NASA says.

Two Expedition 55 flight engineers installed two new handrails with built-in wireless communications equipment, replaced a malfunctioning camera, and removed a set of hoses from the cooling system of the International Space Station.

The excursion was the fourth spacewalk of the year so far, and will be the 209th spacewalk at the International Space Station since the orbital outpost was launched in 1998.

Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 54 days and 10 hours working outside the station in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory.