Columbus addition to ISS added to

[radag...@gmail.com]

Here is a snippet from recent post on Spacedaily:
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A pair of spacewalking astronauts attached Friday two pieces of
research equipment on the International Space Station's new European
laboratory to study the sun and carry out experiments, NASA said.
Astronauts Rex Walheim and Stanley Love floated outside the orbiting
ISS for more than seven hours and successfully completed the mission's
third and final spacewalk, adding two key pieces of hardware to
Europe's Columbus lab. The astronauts installed the SOLAR, an
observatory to monitor the sun for two years, and the European
Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF), which will conduct nine
experiments needing exposure to space. While they toiled outside,
their colleagues inside continued to activate the laboratory, which
gives Europe a significant foothold in the exploration of space. NASA
announced Thursday that the mission, which began with the Atlantis'
launch February 7, would be extended by one day to give astronauts
more time to get Columbus running. The space shuttle is scheduled to
undock from the ISS Monday at 0926 GMT and land at the Kennedy Space
Center on Florida's east coast on Wednesday at 1406 GMT.
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With this latest addition (columbus), this has truly become an
International effort. It is ironic that there is all of this
cooperation up in orbit, while back on Earth countries have to do all
this posturing and muscle-flexing, examples being the recent actions
by Russia, China and the US. I honestly hope a major war does not
occur, destroying any chances of this continued cooperation in Space.
but, knowing human nature and the hubris of the militaries involved,
hope seems slim these days.