WASHINGTON (nasa) – Crews from the U.S. space shuttle, Atlantis, and the international space station, Alpha, are to begin a week of construction on the orbiting outpost that includes four space walks and initial work on installing a mini-rail line.
The shuttle astronauts docked with Alpha on Wednesday. They and their space station counterparts are expected to begin installing a 13-meter-long girder to the space station Thursday. That project will include the first spacewalk of the shuttle mission.
The massive girder is the first section of a 100-meter-long structure that eventually will support a mini-railcar for moving parts from one end of the space station to the other. The girder also will be used to support navigational, cooling and electricity-producing equipment.
Three other spacewalks this week will be used for making wire, data and plumbing connections along the new girder. T he seven astronauts aboard Atlantis are the first to visit the space station’s Russian commander and crew of two Americans since they began their mission aboard the orbiter in December.
The space station crew is scheduled to return home in June. Atlantis began its mission on Monday. NASA says the shuttle is scheduled to undock from the space outpost next Wednesday and land back on Earth two days later.
