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Astronauts Open Up Addition

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By MARCIA DUNN, The Associated Press

Published: October 28, 2007

CAPE CANAVERAL - Astronauts swung open the door to their new space station addition Saturday and floated into the spacious and sparkling white room, formally christening it Harmony.

Even though it looked immaculate inside, International Space Station commander Peggy Whitson and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli - the first to enter - wore surgical masks and goggles to protect themselves from any dirty stowaways, such as dust, lint or crumbs.

The air inside the school-bus-size chamber was immediately tested, and Whitson reported there wasn't much debris inside.

The European Space Agency's science laboratory, named Columbus, will hook onto Harmony as early as December. The Japanese Space Agency's lab - called Kibo or, in English, Hope - will latch onto Harmony early next year.

Harmony also will function as a nerve center, providing air, electricity and water for the space station. It was launched with racks of computer and electronic equipment preinstalled. All this gear had to be locked down for the jarring rocket ride to orbit, leaving the astronauts to undo more than 700 bolts to free up the equipment.

The space station's crew will move Harmony to its permanent location after Discovery leaves in another week. Until then, the astronauts will be restricted on how long they can spend inside the new compartment because of the makeshift ventilation system.

With Harmony operational, the astronauts turned their attention to today's spacewalk, the second of a record-tying five outings planned for the mission.

Astronauts Scott Parazynski and Daniel Tani plan to install spacewalking handrails and other equipment to the outside of Harmony, inspect a rotary joint for the station's solar wings that is acting up, check for possible sharp edges on a rail for the robot arm, and disconnect cables and grounding straps from a giant girder that will be moved from one spot on the station to another.

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