Two space shuttle Endeavour astronauts are spacewalking outside the International Space Station.

Drew Feustel and Gregory Chamitoff left the shuttle a few minutes early, at 3:10 a.m. while Endeavour and the station floated over the Philippines.

Their spacewalk is scheduled to last about six and a half hours.

NASA officials said this spacewalk is supposed to be as routine as they get for what is always a risky task of strolling outside in space.

The astronauts will retrieve three experiments outside the station, install a new one and do some maintenance work.

This is the first spacewalk for Chamitoff. He called it a dream come true.

Endeavour's astronauts will spacewalk four times.