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2/12/08

ESA: European astronauts open hatch to Europe's new space lab: Scientific American

European space module connected to the International space station


For the complete report from the Scientific American click on this link

European astronauts open hatch to Europe's new space lab

Two European astronauts slipped inside Europe's newly installed Columbus laboratory module on Tuesday while crewmates prepared for a second spacewalk to outfit the International Space Station for new additions. The 23-foot(7-metre)-long laboratory, equipped for medical, pharmaceutical and physics experiments, is Europe's first permanent space base and the prime contribution of a $5 billion investment in the space station program. "This is a great moment," French astronaut Leopold Eyharts radioed to ground control teams in Houston and Munich before entering the module for the first time since it reached orbit on Thursday aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. "We are very proud," added crew mate Hans Schlegel, of Germany. "It starts a new era. The European scientific module Columbus and the ISS are connected for many, many years of research in space in cooperation, internationally."

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