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The risky six-hour operation by international space station Cmdr. Sergei Volkov and lead flight engineer Oleg Kononenko was a success, U.S. and Russian space officials said.

The cosmonauts cut away insulation around the live, explosive bolt. They then removed the bolt, which is part of the capsule's re-entry apparatus, slid it into a blast-proof container and brought it back into the station, NASA TV showed.

U.S. astronaut Greg Chamitoff remained inside the Soyuz so he could open a hatch for his crew mates in case of emergency.

The repair was intended to ensure the Russian crew's safe return to Earth in October.

The last two Soyuz capsules returned to Earth in a hurtling "ballistic" descent that forced those aboard to endure extremely high G-forces.

The Russian Federal Space Agency believes the bolt -- one of five -- failed to explode on the previous two reentries, preventing a module from separating from the capsule. This threw off the aerodynamics and plunged the capsule through the atmosphere like a huge rock.

The bolt's explosive force is roughly equivalent to that of an M-80 firecracker, NASA said.

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