NATION IN BRIEF
NATION IN BRIEF
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Science Lab Is Attached To the Space Station
CAPE CANAVERAL -- Europe's shiny new $2 billion science lab, Columbus, was anchored to the international space station Monday by a team of astronauts laboring inside and out.
French astronaut Leopold Eyharts announced its arrival. "Beautiful work," replied Mission Control.
It was a day-long affair that took more time than expected.
The grand finale -- the actual attachment of the 23-foot, 14-ton lab that was ferried up by Atlantis -- took place at the end of an extra-long spacewalk by Rex Walheim and Stanley Love. The astronauts shouted and cheered when the lab reached its destination.
Germany's recovering astronaut, Hans Schlegel, was stuck inside. He was supposed to float outside with Walheim to help with Columbus's hookup, but he got sick after last week's liftoff and was replaced by Love.
The crew switch prompted NASA to delay Columbus's installation by one day and lengthen Atlantis's space station visit. U.S. and European space officials have refused to divulge the illness.
Even though two Americans ended up doing all the outside work, it was still a momentous occasion for the European Space Agency, which waited years to see Columbus fly. The lab was supposed to go up in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the sailing of Christopher Columbus, but space station and shuttle problems delayed the mission.
Minn. Town Dips to 40 Below
MINNEAPOLIS -- It lived up to its name: The temperature in International Falls fell to 40 below zero, a few days after the northern Minnesota town won a federal trademark making it officially the "Icebox of the Nation." The temperature also fell to 40 below in Embarrass, 80 miles southeast of International Falls. That is just one degree above the all-time record in Minneapolis, 250 miles to the south, that was set in January 1888, the weather service said.
Quake Hits Mexico Near U.S. Line
