NASA sidelines spacewalk, adds inspection

By Irene Klotz

HOUSTON (Reuters) -- Shuttle Atlantis astronauts will take a closer look at a minor tear in their ship's heat shield on Sunday after an undisclosed medical issue sidelined plans for a spacewalk to install Europe's Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station, NASA officials said.

The spacewalk, the first of three planned during Atlantis' visit, was rescheduled for Monday. Atlantis crew member Hans Schlegel, a German astronaut with the European Space Agency, will be replaced by backup Stanley Love for the task.

NASA added a day to the previously planned 11-day flight to make up the lost time. Crew members are trying to save enough electricity for a possible 13th day in orbit to give the crew extra time to set up the Columbus laboratory.

Schlegel, 56, sounded cheery after a wake-up call by Mission Control early Sunday.

"Good morning, everybody. Thank you very much for this piece of music. It's a German song about the nature of man and was selected by my dear wife," Schlegel said.

Whether Schlegel would be able to participate in the second spacewalk of the mission had not yet been determined, John Shannon, the co-chairman of the mission management team told reporters.

Atlantis reached the space station on Saturday after a two-day journey that began with a launch on Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The ship carries Europe's first permanent space research laboratory, a $1.9 billion project that is the heart of the European Space Agency's contribution to the $100 billion space station program.