Astronauts Deliver Space Lab

Columbus is transferred after 8-hour spacewalk
By Zach Samalin,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 11, 2008 8:10 PM CST
Astronauts Deliver Space Lab
In this image from NASA Television International Space Station commander Peggy Whitson, center, and Atlantis commanger Steve Frick, far right, prepare astronaut Rex Walheim, center rear, for a spacewalk, Monday, Feb. 11, 2008. (AP Photo/NASA TV)   (Associated Press)

Two astronauts endured a long spacewalk today to deliver the Columbus lab to the International Space Station, the Houston Chronicle reports. Rex Walheim and Stan Love struggled with heater cables, but guided the 15-ton lab while a station astronaut moved it with a robot arm. The 8-hour walk was the first of three scheduled this week to attach the lab to its orbital outpost.

"Welcome to spacewalking, buddy," Walheim told Love, the stand-in for a German astronaut who fell ill this weekend. "It's awesome," Love said.  Love and Walheim also prepped a nitrogen tank for replacement, and spotted a 2-millimeter ding on the station's exterior. The $2.1 billion research lab is Europe's contribution to the space station. (More International Space Station stories.)

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