NASA mission to install solar probe

By Ed Stoddard and Irene Klotz

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Astronauts and ground control teams hustled to get Europe's newly delivered space laboratory prepared for science experiments on Thursday as NASA ironed out plans for a final spacewalk by the shuttle Atlantis crew.

During Friday's spacewalk, astronauts will among other tasks install instruments the European Space Agency will use to measure the variability of solar energy and plot models to help determine the impact of solar activity on the earth's climate.

"We can get a more accurate reading in space than we could on Earth with the same instruments," Bruno Musetti, the chief engineer for the project, told Reuters.

The European Space Agency's $1.9 billion Columbus module was ferried into orbit aboard the shuttle last week and installed during the first of three spacewalks planned during Atlantis' nine-day visit to the International Space Station.

"I cannot yet believe Columbus is in orbit," the European Space Agency director general, Jean Jacques Dordain, told the astronauts.

During the call, German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated German astronaut Hans Schlegel, a member of the shuttle Atlantis crew, on his first spacewalk on Wednesday.

"It was the first time I saw the Earth from outside the vehicle. The colors are very vivid," said Schlegel, who was pulled from an earlier spacewalk due to an undisclosed medical condition.

"It is very important that humankind continues research in space and has an opportunity to go to space and see the beautiful Earth," he said.