Space Station Gets New Robot Arm

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) - Flight controllers tried to fix the computer snag so the crews of both the station and Endeavour could proceed with plans to test the new arm's capabilities with a 3,000 pound load.

The crate is lighter than pieces that the new high-tech construction crane will be used to add to the station over the next 15 to 20 years. But Wednesday's tests and orbital handshake would run its joints through their first paces.

U.S. astronauts Susan Helms and Jim Voss, at the station for a 41/2-month stay with Russian commander Yuri Usachev, will control the new arm from within the station while Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will navigate the other from Endeavour.

Hadfield and U.S. astronaut Scott Parazynski powered up the new arm during two spacewalks Sunday and Tuesday.

The shuttle arm was to store the crate in Endeavour's payload bay for the return to Earth.

Ed Tabarah, a director for the Canadian Space Agency, which built both arms, said Wednesday that coordination between the station and shuttle crews had to be flawless because never before have two robot arms worked together on one task.

``The handoff itself will be just a momentous event for sure,' said Benoit Marcotte, director of operations for the Canadian Space Agency, which built both arms.

The 50-foot arm attached to Endeavour has helped build the station since construction started in 1998. But with the station outgrowing its reach, the new arm was sent up.

The new arm has more flexibility with 58-feet to work with and hands at each end. It can walk end-over-end, with one hand plugged into power sockets on the station while the other is free to add pieces to the station. Fingers will be added to the hands in 2003 to increase its dexterity.

The handoff of the packing cradle will test its grip and joints.

The new arm's first big job will be to install a pressure chamber to the space station in June that will allow its residents to conduct spacewalks without aid from a shuttle.

Endeavour delivered the new arm when it docked Saturday at space station Alpha. Hadfield and U.S. astronaut Scott Parazynski powered it up during spacewalks Sunday and Tuesday.

``We got our money's worth,' station flight director John Curry said of the work accomplished during the seven-plus-hour spacewalks.

Hadfield and Parazynski worked around minor problems to ensure that power, data and video cables were properly connected to the arm.

During Tuesday's spacewalk, Hadfield removed a radio antenna from the space station to make way for the pressure chamber.

One of the antenna's connectors came apart in his hands, and its metal cap in the port where the chamber will be attached. Hadfield gave up after searching in vain for it for about half an hour.

NASA officials said the cap, about the size of a stack of seven quarters, could be problematic when the pressure chamber is attached.

Also Wednesday, both crews continued unloading 6,000 pounds of supplies from an Italian-built cargo carrier named Raffaello.

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