Spacewalkers Upgrade Station

German astronaut, recovered from illness, fits new tank with US colleague

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 14, 2008 2:55 AM CST

(Newser) – A German astronaut walked in space with a Yank colleague yesterday to fit the International Space Station with a new tank of nitrogen. Hans Schlegal and US astronaut Max Walheim completed the upgrade in a seven-hour mission, reports Space.com. "Hello to all the people of Germany," Walheim said as the men passed over the country. "What a pleasure it is to be up here spacewalking with one of your native sons."

It was Schlegel's first-ever spacewalk and he seemed fully recovered from the unspecified illness that kept him from a spacewalk earlier this week. Other shuttle and space station astronauts yesterday worked on hooking up the new Columbus lab. Walheim and another astronaut will be back tomorrow to install some experiments in the last spacewalk of the mission that has now been extended to 13 days.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

In this image from NASA Television, astronaut Rex Walheim, works on the International Space Station from the arm on the space shuttle Atlantis where Walheim worked with German Astronaut Hans Schlegel,... (Associated Press)

In this image from NASA Television, astronaut Rex Walheim, moves from the space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station on the shuttle's arm, where Walheim would be working with German Astronaut... (Associated Press)

In this image from NASA Television, astronaut Rex Walheim, waves in the space shuttle Atlantis' cargo bay after working with German Astronaut Hans Schlegel, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008. Schlegel and Walheim... (Associated Press)

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Spacewalkers Upgrade Station