CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - With a plague of leaks repaired on the International Space Station (news - web sites), its new $164 million air lock failed to bleed off air on Saturday and delayed the start of its inaugural spacewalk by half an hour. ``We're scratching our heads and have a little more work figuring out why that happened,'' space station flight director Mark Kirasich told reporters. The slowdown presented no problems for the astronauts or the spacewalk, but it did upset the operation's schedule. It was also the latest surprise from a piece of very expensive hardware that needs to work for the next 10-15 years for the space station to operate smoothly.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - With a plague of leaks repaired on the International Space Station (news - web sites), its new $164 million air lock failed to bleed off air on Saturday and delayed the start of its inaugural spacewalk by half an hour. ``We're scratching our heads and have a little more work figuring out why that happened,'' space station flight director Mark Kirasich told reporters. The slowdown presented no problems for the astronauts or the spacewalk, but it did upset the operation's schedule. It was also the latest surprise from a piece of very expensive hardware that needs to work for the next 10-15 years for the space station to operate smoothly.