Europe's shiny new $2 billion science lab, Columbus, was anchored to the international space station Monday by a team of astronauts laboring inside and out.
STS-122 and Expedition 16 crew members worked together Monday to attach the European Space Agency’s Columbus Laboratory to the International Space Station’s Harmony module.
During STS-122’s first spacewalk, Mission Specialists Rex Walheim and Stanley Love bolted the Power and Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF) to the Columbus module. The PDGF provided a grapple point for the station’s robotic arm. The spacewalkers installed power cables on Columbus and reinstalled the debris shields they had removed earlier.
STS-122 Mission Specialists Leland Melvin and Daniel Tani, along with Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Leopold Eyharts, used the orbital outpost’s robotic arm to guide Columbus into position for final installation. Columbus was officially attached to the right side of the Harmony module at 4:44 p.m. EST.
Meanwhile, the spacewalkers completed some work to prepare for the replacement of the Nitrogen Tank Assembly (NTA), part of the station’s thermal control system, on the P1 truss.
The 7-hour, 58-minute excursion concluded at 5:11 p.m.
Walheim and Mission Specialist Hans Schlegel will complete the replacement of the NTA and install trunnion covers on Columbus during STS-122’s second spacewalk, slated to begin Wednesday at 9:35 a.m.
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