Astronaut Scott Parazynsky spent more than four hours attached to the end of a robotic boom knitting together the damaged panels with makeshift wire "cufflinks" to rectify the problems caused by a snagged wire when the panels unfurled.

The mission carried significant danger as touching the panels risked a shock from the 300-volt current they carried.

"Beautiful," Parazynsky said as he wrapped up the in-space fix-it job.

"Outstanding work," said Peggy Whitson, one of the controllers at Houston, Texas Mission Control.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration had made fixing the solar arrays the top priority for the Discovery shuttle mission because without it there was a risk the tear could spread and render the power-generating wing useless.

The mission unfolded live on television screens, with cameras and microphones aboard the international Space Station and on the astronaut's helmet catching all of the discussion, the directions and snafus.

Parazynsky had to first cut the guy-wire that caused the problem; it quickly recoiled into a reel at the base of the wing.

To avoid the electric shock risk, Parazynsky had to work with a makeshift "hockey stick," an L-shaped tool wrapped in tape to prod the panels and help stitch through holes in the solar panels the five cufflink-like wire tabs fashioned by the astronauts aboard the ISS.

Ahead of the operation David Wolf, head of spacewalk training at NASA's center in Houston, called electrocution "conceivable but extremely unlikely," adding that in such a case the astronaut would not be burned but could receive a "mild shock."

While he recieved coaching from both the ISS and the NASA Mission Control base at Houston, Texas, cameras showed Parazynsky twisting and bending the cufflinks to jam them through the holes to secure the panels.

Parazynski, 46, an experienced spacewalker, and Doug Wheelock emerged into open space shortly after 6:00 am (1000 GMT) for the job.

After making his way across the station's truss structure, Parazynski attached himself by his feet to a 15-meter (49 feet) extension boom joined to the space station's 18-meter (59 feet) robotic arm and began a ride to the damaged panel.

Wheelock meanwhile stayed close by watching the progress and giving direction to mission specialist Stephanie Wilson and engineer Dan Tani aboard the ISS maneuvering the robotic arm.

The solar array, one of three on the space station, is critical to providing extra electricity for planned European and Japanese science labs.

The European Columbus laboratory is due to be delivered to the ISS in December and the Japanese Kibo lab in April 2008.

Working with the stiff spacesuit gloves made the job all the more difficult for Parazynski, who nevertheless deftly threaded the cufflinks into the holes.

Wolf earlier characterized the work as "like sewing with mittens on."

Parazynski was also farther out from the shuttle than on previous spacewalks -- an entire hour from safety instead of the customary 30 minutes if he needed to end the walk in an emergency.

If there are no more problems, Discovery is scheduled to undock from the space station on Monday and return to Earth on Wednesday. It blasted off on the mission on October 23.

The spacewalk on Saturday overtook previous plans to examine a malfunctioning rotary joint that turns the solar arrays.

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