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French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who will fly home aboard Endeavour after spending about a month and a half in space, had mixed emotions about leaving orbit. "Of course, I would have loved to stay longer in the station, but I think it's time for me to go back," said Eyharts, who helped set up Europe's new Columbus lab and was replaced on the station crew by astronaut Garrett Reisman. Astronauts devoted most of the mission's first three spacewalks to assembling the robot, named Dextre. The fourth spacewalk focused on testing a method for repairing damaged shuttle thermal tiles, while the fifth involved stowing an inspection boom on the station. Dextre, a Canadian Space Agency contribution that cost more than $200 million, is designed to help spacewalkers and could eventually take over some of their chores. The Japanese compartment will serve as a sort of storage closet for the new Kibo lab, which is set to be delivered by the shuttle Discovery in May. Related Links: |
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