Sunday, February 10, 2008

STS-122 Docks With ISS, Columbus Deployment Delayed

The STS-122 crew entered the International Space Station for the first time after the hatches between the station and space shuttle Atlantis opened at 1440 EST Saturday, kicking off what will now be a 10-day visit to the orbital station.
Atlantis and the STS-122 crew arrived at the International Space Station at 1217 EST Saturday, delivering the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory and a new crew member to the orbital outpost.

Plans to install Columbus to the station Sunday, however, were moved off a day due to a reported illness among the STS-122 crew. The delay will have "no impact to the overall mission objectives," the space agency noted.
Though NASA would only state the delay was due to a non-life-threatening "crew medical issue," news reports indicate it's ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel who is under the weather. Those reports would appear to be confirmed by the fact astronaut Stan Love will fill in for Schlegel on the mission's first spacewalk to attach the Columbus lab to the Harmony module.

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