Newly arrived French astronaut Leopold Eyharts and German shuttle flier Hans Schlegel opened hatches to partially enter the European Space Agency's Columbus research module today, marking the moment with a call to flight controllers in Houston, Moscow and now, Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, Germany.

"Houston, and Munich, Hans and I are both together here, ready to ingress the Columbus module," Eyharts radioed at 9:08 a.m. "We have a special thought at this moment for all the people in Europe and the U.S. who have contributed to the make up of Columbus. Especially to the space agencies, of course, the industry, but also all the citizens who are supporting space flight. This is a great moment and Hans and I are very proud to be here and to ingress for the first time the Columbus module."

Schlegel, looking comfortable and in good spirits after being ill earlier in the mission, added: "We are very proud. I think it starts a new era now, the volume of the European scientific module, Columbus, and the ISS are connected for many, many years of research in space in cooperation, internationally. It's a great moment for us."

After congratulations from mission control in Houston, the German control center came on the line to say "thanks a lot, Leo and Hans, for these very kind words. That's the great news we've been waiting for. Let me also take this chance to thank you all, ISS and shuttle crew members, and congratulate you for the fantastic job you did yesterday for the Columbus installation. So now bon chance and good luck to you."

The astronauts are busy today hooking up power lines, data cables and coolant loops to carefully bring the new science lab to life. The astronauts won't fully enter the module for normal work until this afternoon, after allowing time for fans and filters to clean the air in the lab.

While the activation work was proceeding, mission control in Houston told shuttle commander Steve Frick engineers had completed an analysis of a slightly pulled up insulation blanket on the ship's aft right orbital maneuvering system rocket pod.

"It's good news on the right OMS pod blanket," astronaut Keven Ford radioed from the control center. "They did the analysis that clearly shows there's no safety-of-flight issue. That's based on a very conservative modeling of that anomaly. So the right OMS area has been officially cleared for entry."

"OK, that's great news, Kevin," Frick replied. "Thanks a lot to the inspection folks and the analysis folks that did the thermal on that and cleared it for us. It's a relief knowing we don't have to go back there and mess with it."

"We agree, Steve. We've got plenty on our plate."

Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 5 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: COLUMBUS MODULE HOISTED OUT OF SHUTTLE BAY PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF COLUMBUS' ATTACHMENT PLAY
VIDEO: OVERVIEW ANIMATION OF COLUMBUS MODULE PLAY
VIDEO: GUIDED TOUR OF ATLANTIS' PAYLOAD BAY PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF TODAY'S SPACEWALK PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: SUNDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: POST-MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE ATLANTIS DOCKS TO SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS PERFORMS THE 360-DEGREE BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: VIEWS OF THE SHUTTLE APPROACHING FROM BELOW PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS COMPLETES THE "TI" BURN PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF THE DOCKING PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: HEAT SHIELD INSPECTIONS EXPLAINED PLAY

VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-1 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-2 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-6 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: WEST TOWER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: FRONT CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 009 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 049 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 050 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 051 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 054 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 060 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 070 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 071 PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF ATLANTIS' LAUNCH PREPS PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: NASA AND ESA POST-LAUNCH NEWS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: FULL LENGTH LAUNCH MOVIE! PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS BLASTS OFF WITH COLUMBUS PLAY
VIDEO: POLLS GIVE THE FINAL "GO" TO LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS QUARTERS FOR LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DON THEIR SPACESUITS FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: RUSSIAN CARGO SHIP DOCKS TO STATION THIS MORNING PLAY
VIDEO: PAD GANTRY ROLLED BACK THE NIGHT BEFORE LAUNCH PLAY

VIDEO: COLUMBUS AND ATV OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY MORNING'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY'S CARGO SHIP UNDOCKING FROM STATION PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS' PAYLOAD BAY DOORS CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY
VIDEO: CREW RETURNS TO KENNEDY SPACE CENTER FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY MORNING'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: POST-FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: STS-122 ASTRONAUT BIOGRAPHIES PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED OVERVIEW OF ATLANTIS' MISSION PLAY
VIDEO: INSIGHTS INTO COLUMBUS SCIENCE LABORATORY PLAY
VIDEO: STS-122 MISSION OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: BRIEFING ON THE SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: CREW'S PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH STEVE FRICK PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH ALAN POINDEXTER PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH LELAND MELVIN PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH REX WALHEIM PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH HANS SCHLEGEL PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH STANLEY LOVE PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH LEOPOLD EYHARTS PLAY
MORE: STS-122 VIDEO COVERAGE
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