Spacewalkers work to install robot arm fixture
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: February 11, 2008
Two hours into today's spacewalk, astronauts Rex Walheim and Stan Love have finished setting up tools and equipment and are preparing to install a grapple fixture on the side of the Columbus research module in Atlantis' cargo bay.
"Welcome to spacewalking, buddy," Walheim, veteran of two previous spacewalks, told Love, making his first, as the excursion began.
"Wow," Love marveled at the view of Southeast Asia 210 miles below.
"Pretty slick."
"It's awesome."
Love, anchored to the end of the space station's robot arm, released the grapple fixture from its mounting point on the side of the cargo bay and plans to bring it to the European lab module where Walheim is removing the first of two panels to permit the fixture's attachment.
The power and data grapple fixture, or PDGF, will be attached with four expandable fasteners. Once it's in place, a second debris shield will be removed so two electrical cables can be connected to provide power from the robot arm to heaters in the Columbus module. The heaters will keep systems in Columbus from getting too cold during the slow move up to the space station. Once bolted to the Harmony module, Columbus will be plugged into normal station power.
After the two debris shields are re-installed, the astronauts will remove eight covers protecting the common berthing mechanism hardware on Columbus that will help attach the module to the station. Love then will get off the robot arm and stow the foot restraint.
At that point, Walheim and Love will be done with Columbia preparations. After returning to the Quest airlock module to swap out tools, they will make their way up to the station's main solar power truss to set up tools and hardware needed for the planned changeout of a nitrogen tank during a second spacewalk Wednesday.
Robot arm operators Leland Melvin and Dan Tani, meanwhile, will press ahead with moving Columbus up to the Harmony module's right-side port so motorized bolts can pull the lab into place. That work is scheduled for late this afternoon.
While the astronauts were busy in orbit, engineers rolled the shuttle Endeavour from its processing hangar into the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center today for attachment to an external tank and two solid-fuel rocket boosters. If all goes well, Endeavour will be hauled to launch pad 39A next week. Liftoff on the next space station assembly mission is targeted for 2:28 a.m. on March 11.
CGI image of the ISS after the installation of ''Columbus''
A spacewalk was conducted today by astronauts Rex Walheim and Stan Love, members of the STS-122 Space Shuttle crew, to install the new Columbus module onto the International Space Station. 

The spacewalk, or extra-vehicular activity (EVA), began at 14:13 UTC, with the astronauts leaving the ''Quest'' airlock of the Space Station, and starting work to install an attachment point on top of the ''Columbus'' module, to allow it to be moved by the Station's robotic arm. This was completed at 19:00, about an hour later than planned, owing to the installation taking longer than expected. ''Columbus'' was lifted out of the payload bay of ''Atlantis'' at 19:55 UTC, by the Space Station's robotic arm, Canadarm2. Astronaut Dan Tani, controlling Canadarm2 from aboard the ISS remarked "Columbus has started its trip to the new world". At 21:29, ''Columbus'' soft-docked with the Space Station's ''Harmony'' node, and the module finished bolting itself in place by 21:44.

Meanwhile, the astronauts performed some tasks to prepare for the next spacewalk, which is currently scheduled for Wednesday. They loosened bolts holding a nitrogen tank in place on the port truss segment of the Station, ahead of its replacement. It was originally planned that they would also disconnect pipes and electrical connections, however these objectives were delayed to Wednesday's spacewalk, due to time constraints. The EVA finished at 22:12 UTC, having lasted seven hours and fifty-eight minutes

This marks the 102nd spacewalk as part of the International Space Station programme, and the first of three planned for the STS-122 Shuttle mission. It was originally planned that German astronaut Hans Schlegel would perform the EVA instead of Stan Love, however he was unable to do so due to an undisclosed medical problem.