Crews to Enter Columbus Laboratory Today
Image above: Shuttle astronauts speak to reporters on Earth Tuesday morning. At top, from left are Stanley Love, Stephen Frick and Rex Walheim. At bottom is Leland Melvin. The shuttle crew members are in between two U.S. spacesuits. Photo credit: NASA TV
The STS-122 and Expedition 16 crews will open the newest component of the International Space Station for business today.
Supplies and equipment will be transferred into the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory. Three of the laboratory module’s five payload racks also are scheduled for relocation today. Expedition 16 crew members Leopold Eyharts and Peggy Whitson will be the first to enter Columbus.
Later in the day, STS-122 Mission Specialists Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel will camp out in the station’s Quest Airlock in preparation for Wednesday’s spacewalk, scheduled for 9:35 a.m. EST.
On Monday, astronauts used the station’s robotic arm to connect Columbus to the orbital outpost and Walheim and Mission Specialist Stanley Love conducted the first of three scheduled STS-122 spacewalks. Among other tasks, the spacewalkers prepared the new module for its installation.