Shuttle astronauts attach space station command module

Astronauts Tom Jones and Bob Curbeam spent about six hours in space, turning wrenches with their bulky gloves and taking emergency measures to stop the leak of ammonia, used as a coolant for the module. The 1.4-billion-dollar Destiny module was the main cargo on board the U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis, which arrived on Friday. The space station is already manned by three astronauts who marked their 100th day on board that day.

Inside the Atlantis, astronaut Marsha Ivins had the most delicate task - that of operating the shuttle's robotic arm to ease the 16-ton Destiny from the shuttle cargo bay, where she had only five centimetres room for error. Since her vision was blocked, she had to rely on the two outside astronauts for her eyes. To avoid space debris that could have damaged the space station, the shuttle commander performed small jet firings to change the orbiting structure's position before the docking manoeuvre, NASA said. Two further spacewalks were to take place later on during the shuttle mission to complete the work.

The work began about 24 hours after the Atlantis docked with the station, the first one this year and the sixth ever for the two-year- old space station where U.S. astronaut Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidsenko and Sergei Krikalyov are working. The Destiny will give NASA more control over daily operations on the ISS, which have so far been run largely by Russian ground control. New computers will allow the U.S. space agency to manipulate four gyroscopes installed last autumn to keep the ISS on course.

Atlantis, with a crew of five, took off at sunset on Thursday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, after a three-week delay, and is due to return to Earth on Sunday, February 18. The ISS is a 60-billion-dollar project involving 16 nations.

(la/dpa)