HOUSTON — Astronauts aboard the
International Space Station (ISS) are forging ahead with the activation of the
orbiting laboratory's new European research module.
The joint 10-astronaut crew of the
space station and NASA's docked Atlantis orbiter are squeezing in extra work
today commission the European
Columbus lab before the shuttle departs the ISS on Monday.
"We're very far advanced in the
activation and commission of Columbus," said Alan Thirkettle, station program
manager for the European Space Agency (ESA), which built Columbus as its
largest contribution to the ISS project.
Commanded by veteran spaceflyer Stephen Frick, Atlantis' STS-122 crew is in the
middle of a 13-day mission to deliver Columbus and a new station crewmember to
the ISS. The astronauts will discuss their spaceflight with reporters at 8:40
a.m. EST (1340 GMT).
"We're really a real partner now
and we feel it, and it's a very nice feeling indeed," Thirkettle said. "We're a really happy set of
bunnies."
Thirkettle said ESA astronauts Hans
Schlegel, of Germany, Leopold
Eyharts of France and their crewmates are well ahead of schedule in
activating the 1.4 billion ($2 billion) research
lab's science racks.
"They, along with the rest of the
crew, are working at a rate that far exceeds the planning expectations,"
Thirkettle said of Schlegel and Eyharts. "It's been a real challenge for the
ground segment, the Columbus control center in particular, to keep them
occupied and to keep up with them."
Spacewalkers installed two of the
planned four external
research platforms to porch-like carriers on the outboard edge of Columbus
on Friday, with flight controllers on Earth powering them later that night.
Columbus' ESA control center sits
just outside Munich, Germany, where a team of 100 flight controllers work in
three shifts to monitor the 23-foot (7-meter) long module around the clock.
Eyharts, who has replaced NASA astronaut Dan Tani as a member of the stations'
Expedition 16 crew, will oversee Columbus' activation in orbit.
Thirkettle said that, if all continues to go
well, Columbus' Biolab experiment facility should be
activated enough to begin initial plant growth experiments, the first results
of which are due to return to Earth next month aboard NASA's next shuttle
mission.
"We also really appreciate having
the new module on board and are very excited about getting Columbus fully
activated and running, and doing science on board," NASA astronaut Peggy
Whitson, commander of the station's Expedition 16 mission, told ESA officials
this week. "We're looking forward to that time."
NASA's Mission Control here at the
Johnson Space Center roused the Atlantis crew with the song "I Believe I
Can Fly" performed by Yolanda Adams and Kenny G, a tune selected for
STS-122 mission specialist Leland Melvin.
"Thank you so much," Melvin said as
he thanked his family for choosing the song. "I believe we are flying 17,500
miles per hour above this beautiful planet and we are putting together this
International Space Station for the betterment of humankind."
Atlantis' STS-122 crew is scheduled
to undock from the space station on Monday for a planned Feb. 20 landing at
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Mission managers said late Friday
that a backup landing site will also be called up at California's Edwards Air
Force Base to give the shuttle more opportunities to land and clear the way for
a U.S. missile launch to destroy
a failing spy satellite filled with toxic rocket fuel.
NASA is broadcasting Atlantis'
STS-122 mission live on NASA TV. Click
here for SPACE.com's shuttle mission coverage and NASA TV feed.
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