The new component was attached to the harmonic component, and will help to increase the volume of living space on the space station, and will double the volume dedicated to scientific experiments
Members of the Space Station's 16th crew and the Atlantis crew on mission STS-122 used Monday to connect the Columbus Space Laboratory to the International Space Station's Harmonic Component.
During the first spacewalk, only Wallheim and Stanley Love bolted the electrical and communication cable assembly to the Columbus vehicles. The facility was used later in the day as a holding point for the station's robotic arm, when the Columbus component was moved from the shuttle's cargo deck to its place next to the Harmonic component.
The spacewalkers also installed power cables on Columbus and reassembled the cover that protects the station from space debris, which they removed earlier.
Astronauts Leland Melvin, Daniel Tanney and Leopold Ehrts used the station's robotic arm to steer Columbus to its final position and eventually the Columbus component was attached to the right side of the Harmonic component at 16:44 EST (23:44 Israel time).
In the meantime, the astronauts completed some preparatory work to replace the nitrogen tank, part of the station's thermal control system located on the P1 component. The spacewalk lasted seven hours and 58 minutes and ended at 01:11 Israel time (Tuesday).
