Posted: Tue, Feb 12, 2008, 6:50 AM ET (1150 GMT)
The crew of the shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station, including two spacewalking astronauts, attached the European lab module Columbus to the station on Monday. STS-122 astronauts Rex Walheim and Stanley Love spent nearly eight hours outside the shuttle and station, much of that time devoted to preparing the Columbus module for installation on the station. After the two attached a grapple fixture and preparing electrical and data connections on the module, other astronauts used the station's robotic arm to move the module from the shuttle's cargo bay into its position on the right side of the Harmony node module. Also during their EVA, Walheim and Love started work replacing a nitrogen tank that is part of the station's ammonia cooling system; that work will be completed on the mission's second EVA on Wednesday. European astronaut Hans Schlegel, who was replaced on Monday's spacewalk by Love because of an apparent medical issue, is expected to participate in Wednesday's EVA with Walheim as planned.

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article
•  Orlando Sentinel article
•  Houston Chronicle article
•  AP article
•  NASA STS-122 status report