NASA announced that the Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock successfully repaired the torn solar array during a spacewalk that lasted 7-hour and 19-minute.

The operation, one of the most complicated in the history of the space station, was declared a success after Parazynski managed to install five special links to repair two rips in the panel.

Parazynski rode the station’s robotic arm up to the damaged area of the array. He was secured in a foot restraint on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, or OBSS.

Once he reached the area of the damage, the astronaut has installed the cufflinks that were built by the crew. Once the five cufflinks were in place, the crew inside then deployed the array half a bay at a time until the array was fully deployed.

Parazynski faced dangers including electric shock and cuts after leaving the orbiting ISS to begin the last-minute mending job 200 kilometres above the earth. Back at NASA's Houston base engineers watched the 46-year-old's work anxiously on their monitors.

Parazynski was congratulated by the Discovery commander Pamela Melroy after his successful mission.

The ISS crew will conduct a series of tests to verify if the panel the panel, which provides solar power, is working properly.

The solar panel - the oldest on the ISS - was damaged while astronauts were trying to move and deploy it earlier this week. The mishap prompted NASA ground control to cancel the remaining spacewalks, one of which was intended to repair a joint problem on yet another solar panel.