During the fifth and final outing on Monday, before the visiting shuttle Endeavour departs, two spacewalking astronauts applied the finishing touches on Japan's International Space Station research lab.

Endeavour astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn, while floating 225 miles (360 km) above Earth, outfitted Japan's new outdoor experiments platform with television cameras, completing the $2.4-billion Kibo complex.

After a five-hour spacewalk, astronaut David Wolf radioed to his crew mates as they headed back into the airlock, "We're pretty awed by this whole thing. You have just done an outstanding effort."

Furthermore, a circuit for the station's steering system was also rewired by the spacewalkers, apart from mending the thermal covering on a Canadian-built construction robot.

It is on Tuesday when the shuttle is supposed to leave the space station. The Kubo was outfitted with a platform for telescopes by the Endeavour astronauts, along with other science experiments that operate in the open space environment during an 11-day visit.

The batteries in the station's solar power system were also replaced by them and provided spare parts, which are required to keep the station operational after the shuttle fleet is retired next year.

It has been learnt that Tim Kopra, one of the Endeavour astronauts, will stay behind on the station. He will take over from Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata who has been in orbit for four-and-1/2 months.

Sunday saw Wakata expressing that he was looking forward to a hot bath, cold noodles and some fresh sushi after his return to the Earth.

He added that his specially designed space clothing, called "J-ware" were great, as these odor-free clothes killed bacteria, absorbed water and dried quickly.

Wakata, while speaking through an interpreter said: "In two months, I was wearing these underwear and there was no smell and nobody complained. I think that new J-ware underwear is very good for me and my colleagues."