SPACE CENTER, Houston -- The first two building blocks of the international space station were firmly hooked together and soaring high above the Earth Monday, awaiting a visit from two spacewalking astronauts to attach electrical connectors and cables between the parts.
During the 6 1/2-hour spacewalk, scheduled to begin Monday evening, astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman will hook up 40 connectors to supply power to the fledgling outpost. Newman likened the job to construction work."Essentially we're putting an office building together," he explained.
Two other spacewalks are planned during the 12-day assembly mission, to install handrails and other tools for future crews.
The first two space station parts -- the Russian-built Zarya control module and American-made Unity chamber -- were connected on Sunday, creating a seven-story tower out of the cargo bay of the shuttle Endeavour. The joined modules will be released from the shuttle once all of the spacewalks are completed.
The components were linked as Endeavour soared 240 miles over the South Pacific.