Europeans say space lab installation can go ahead

BERLIN (Reuters) - The Atlantis space shuttle crew will be able to install Europe's Columbus laboratory in the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday after a one-day delay, a top official at the German Aerospace Centre said.

NASA postponed the spacewalk, originally planned for Sunday, as German astronaut Hans Schlegel was unwell. But a senior scientist at Oberpfaffenhofen in Germany, Europe's mission control, said he was fit again and work would get under way.

"From what we have heard, Mr Schlegel is alright. It will be no problem to install Columbus today, I am absolutely confident," Volker Sobick, deputy head of manned missions, the ISS and exploration at the German Space Centre, told Reuters.

Columbus, a $1.9 billion project at the heart of the European Space Agency's contribution to the $100 billion space station program, will be Europe's first permanent space research facility.

Sobick said Schlegel, 56, would participate in the space walk while American Stanley Love would lead Monday's work.

Sobick also denied Schlegel had been ill but said that he had not been fit enough to go outside the shuttle.

"External activity is like a high performance sport, it is like running a marathon and if someone is not 100 percent fit then it is better to leave it so that you don't put the mission at risk," said Sobick in a telephone interview.

FULL PARTNER

He said the mission meant Europe was at last a fully-fledged and equal partner on the space station and the installation of Columbus would herald the start of greater international cooperation on a range of missions.

For the last 25 years, European researchers have relied on others to carry out experiments in orbit.

"It is a really important step and a new start for us in Europe," said Sobick. "Now, for the first time, we have the possibility to carry out long-term experiments."

Although the emphasis is on fundamental science, the experiments should have practical uses in the long run, he said.

European governments hope that some of the investment will yield technological advances which will benefit taxpayers who have paid for a large part of the project.

Columbus can hold 10 telephone-box sized racks which allow a range of experiments in different areas.

Oberpfaffenhofen, near the southern German city of Munich, will control systems and steer Columbia's experiments.

Sobick said investigating the effect of gravity and weightlessness on muscles and bones could lead to therapy for diseases such as osteoporosis.

Other experiments on materials could help scientists create new alloys which could be used in industry. Researchers are also trying to find out how plants grow in space to help prepare for possible missions to Mars.

"Food won't last for that long in space so we need to find if and how plants grow so that we can undertake these missions," said Sobick.

He hopes Columbus will be operational for at least 10 years. "We want to get plenty back from our heavy investment," he said.

(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)