SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) -- For the first time, an American piece of the international space station is up and running in orbit after a speedy wiring job by two space walkers who had time left over for even more work.
"We have successfully activated the space station," shuttle commander Robert Cabana reported Monday night after electricity began flowing from the Russian-made Zarya control module to the American-made Unity chamber."Outstanding effort," Mission Control replied.
The fledgling space station was brought to life after astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman attached 40 electrical and data cables between Zarya and Unity during a seven-hour, 21-minute spacewalk.
After the wiring job, flight controllers on the ground powered up Unity and its onboard computers while Cabana and his crew on the shuttle Endeavour watched for any problems. There were none.
Unity, a cylindrical passageway to which other pieces of the station will be attached, needs the solar power generated by Zarya to operate. The computers, heaters and fans inside Unity began humming for the first time in orbit once power was surging between the two components.
The astronauts had a light schedule Tuesday, including seven hours of free time.