Columbus module attached to space station
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: February 11, 2008
The European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory module was successfully removed from the shuttle Atlantis' cargo bay today and bolted to its permanent home on the front right side of the international space station to accomplish the primary goal of the year's first shuttle mission.
"Columbus is touching the station for the first time," French astronaut Leopold Eyharts radioed at 4:29 p.m. as the station's robot arm, operated by shuttle astronaut Leland Melvin, moved Columbus into position for bolting.
"All right!" someone exclaimed. "Good job, guys!"
A few minutes later, motorized bolts in the common berthing mechanism engaged to pull Columbus firmly into place on the right-side port of the Harmony connecting module.
"Houston and Munich, the European Columbus laboraory module is now part of the ISS," Eyharts radioed at 4:44 p.m.
"Beautiful work," astronaut Chris Cassidy called from mission control in Houston.
"We see a good A bolting and that finishes our CBM (common berthing mechanism) procedure," Eyharts concluded.
"We see the same on the ground, Leo," Cassidy agreed. "Nice job to all involved."
After leak checks and preparations inside Harmony, the astronauts plan to open hatches to the new module Tuesday to begin activating the laboratory and its complex systems.
Astroantus Rex Walheim and Stan Love, meanwhile, are in the final stages of stowing tethers and tools before repressurizing the Quest airlock module to end an extended spacewalk.
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.