Astronauts at the International Space Station have put in place a new Canadian robotic device designed to assist future astronauts with delicate maintenance tasks at the orbiting facility.
The astronauts attached the robot, called Dextre, to the U.S. laboratory Destiny, at the space station Tuesday. Two crew members of the U.S. shuttle Endeavour assembled Dextre during a seven-hour spacewalk earlier this week.
The astronauts are to begin the mission's fourth spacewalk Thursday to test a new procedure for repairing damaged heat-shielding tiles.
On an earlier spacewalk, astronauts attached a storage compartment for a Japanese laboratory scheduled to be delivered by another space shuttle in May.
Astronauts have set up scientific experiments for various nations, though difficulties with one project saw it returned to the loading bay instead of being installed on the outside of the station.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
