New Room on Space Station
- By Unknown
- Oct. 29 2007 00:00
Robot arm operators working inside the station's Destiny laboratory fished out the 14,200-kilogram Harmony module from the shuttle's cargo bay and hoisted it over the side of the shuttle and into a temporary position on the station's Unity connecting node.
Unity connects the Russian and U.S. segments of the station.
Space station astronauts will reposition Harmony, which boosts the station's living space by 18 percent, to its permanent spot after the shuttle leaves the outpost Nov. 4. The module, which has six attachment ports for future station expansion, needs to be where the shuttle is now docked.
"I don't know that anybody ever told our crew that we bring harmony with us, but we sure bring fun," said Discovery commander Pamela Melroy as two other astronauts relaxed in the airlock after finishing the first of five spacewalks planned during the shuttle's visit.
Before placing the Harmony connecting node onto the station, the spacewalkers worked on a massive solar power structure that will be repositioned during spacewalks Sunday and Tuesday. They also retrieved a broken antenna that will be refurbished on Earth and returned to the station as a spare.