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STS-122: The mission

Atlantis' trip to the station will deliver the European Space Agency's Columbus science lab module.

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STS-122: The programs

Managers from the shuttle, station and EVA programs discuss Atlantis' upcoming flight.

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STS-122: Spacewalks

Three spacewalks are planned during Atlantis' STS-122 assembly mission. Lead spacewalk officer Anna Jarvis previews the EVAs.

 Full briefing
 EVA 1 summary
 EVA 2 summary
 EVA 3 summary

The Atlantis crew

The astronauts of Atlantis' STS-122 mission meet the press in the traditional pre-flight news conference.

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Harmony's big move

The station's new Harmony module is detached from the Unity hub and moved to its permanent location on the Destiny lab.

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Delta 4-Heavy launch

The first operational Delta 4-Heavy rocket launches the final Defense Support Program missile warning satellite for the Air Force.

 Full coverage

Columbus readied

The European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory module moves to pad 39A and placed aboard shuttle Atlantis for launch.

 To pad | Installed

Station port moved

The station crew uses the robot arm to detach the main shuttle docking port and mount it to the new Harmony module Nov. 12.

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Atlantis rolls out

Space shuttle Atlantis rolls from the Vehicle Assembly Building to pad 39A for its December launch with the Columbus module.

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Atlantis goes vertical

Atlantis is hoisted upright and maneuvered into position for attachment to the external tank and boosters.

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Spacewalk ends; mission extended one day
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: February 13, 2008
Updated at 6:30 p.m. with resolution of computer glitch

Astronauts Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel staged a successful six-hour 45-minute spacewalk today, replacing a nitrogen tank needed to maintain pressure in the space station's ammonia cooling system.

Mission managers, meanwhile, officially gave the shuttle Atlantis' heat shield a clean bill of health and decided to extend the mission one more day to give the crew additional time to activate the new Columbus research module. The extra day will be inserted Saturday with landing now targeted for around 9:06 a.m. on Feb. 20.

"Steve, a number of things to tell you here, all good news," astronaut Steve Robinson radioed shuttle commander Steve Frick from mission control in Houston. "Based on the inspection we've had so far, and all the other types of imagery, Atlantis' thermal protection system is currently cleared for entry. The programs came together and decided to add an additional one-day extension to your mission. ... You do have sufficient (carbon dioxide-absorbing lithium hydroxide) aboard the ship. We'll have to be checking on food, we're having our folks check on what was stowed, but we're going to need your input on that. We are looking forward to an O2 (oxygen) transfer (to the station), probably on flight day nine."

"Thanks very much for the big picture," Frick replied. "Great news, certainly we look forward to another day on the space station and happy to do whatever works best for the station and the station crew to put them in a good position when we leave. ... That's great news, we appreciate the heads up and also the good news that our TPS (thermal protection system) has been cleared for entry."

"That's exactly the intent of staying up an extra day, is getting Columbus that good head start with a trained crew," Robinson said.

The new Columbus module was attached to the space station Monday and within hours, European Space Agency engineers began working through a complex activation process. But they quickly ran into problems uplinking commands through the station's U.S. command and control system and into the computers inside Columbus. Late today, U.S. and European flight controllers decided the problem likely involved "stale commands" in a queue used by the station's primary U.S. computer system.

To flush out the queue, controllers shifted the active U.S. computer system into standby mode and designated a backup system as primary. Just before 6 p.m., engineers reported success, saying they finally were able to command the European computer systems. The Columbus activation process, which had been on hold, resumed but engineers decided to suspend the work overnight while the astronauts slept in case of any additional problems that might disturb their sleep or require their attention.

During today's spacewalk, Walheim and Schlegel successfully replaced a 550-pound nitrogen tank on the international space station's main solar power truss, installed four thermal covers on the keel pins used to secure the Columbus module in the shuttle's cargo bay for launch and worked to tie down micrometeoroid shields on the U.S. Destiny lab module. There were no problems of any significance and Schlegel, a German astronaut who became ill earlier in the mission and had to sit out a spacewalk Monday, appeared to have no problems today.

"It was great working with you today, you guys did an outstanding job," shuttle pilot Alan Poindexter, the spacewalk coordinator, radioed as Walheim and Schlegel returned to the station's airlock. "It really was a pleasure working with you."

"Awesome job, Dex, thanks for all the help," Walheim replied. "And thanks to the ground for all of our prepearion to get this done. It was really a great help in the execution."

This was the 103rd spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the fourth for Walheim and the first for Schlegel. Total station EVA time now stands at 646 hours and 18 minutes with Walheim's cumulative total increasing to 28 hours and 58 minutes.

Walheim and astronaut Stan Love plan to stage a third and final spacewalk Friday to attach external instruments to the Columbus module and to move a faulty space station gyroscope back to Atlantis for return to Earth.

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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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