Written by Derek Kessler on
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
After years of delays and billions of dollars, the European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory was finally attached to the International Space Station yesterday. The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis working with the Expedition 16 crew of the ISS installed the new module in a eight hour spacewalk.
Newly arrived French astronaut Leopold Eyharts will open the hatch this morning. Right now the module is drawing power through the station's robotic arm, later today in another space walk the 14.5-ton lab's power systems will be hooked up to the ISS, bringing the lab's cooling and ventilation systems online - until the air has circulated any astronauts that enter the module must wear protective gear in case any of the experiments pre-installed on Columbus were jarred loose during launch.
NASA mission managers extended Atlantis' mission by one day to squeeze in more time to outfit Columbus. Of particular importance is the presence of the ESA's Hans Schlegel, who had to bow out of yesterday's spacewalk due to an undisclosed illness (likely spacesickness). Schlegel is trained as a Columbus installation specialist and will use the extra day to further the progress in bringing the lab fully online.
After years of delays and billions of dollars, the European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory was finally attached to the International Space Station yesterday. The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis working with the Expedition 16 crew of the ISS installed the new module in a eight hour spacewalk.
