Space station robotic handyman flexes its muscles

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the InternationalSpace Station put their new mechanical maintenance man througha trial workout on Sunday, testing the joints on its ganglyarms while crewmates prepared for another spacewalk to get therobot ready for service.

The Canadian-built robot, named Dextre, was assembledduring an occasionally frustrating spacewalk that ended earlierSaturday by shuttle Endeavour astronauts Richard Linnehan andMichael Foreman.

Dextre's 11-foot (3.35-metre) arms were flown to thestation anchored -- at some points too tightly -- to a workpallet.

"We may have to get medieval on Mr. Dextre," Linnehanremarked at one point when even a pry bar was not readilyfreeing a stuck bolt.

Eventually, the astronauts were able to pin Dextre's armson his body, clearing the way for a spacewalk on Monday tooutfit the handyman with a tool caddy, television cameras andother accessories.

Dextre is designed to operate on the station's robot arm,adding manual dexterity and another 30 feet (9.1 metres) ofreach to assist spacewalking astronauts during station repairand maintenance tasks.

The latest addition to the $100 billion (49.3 billionpounds) station is a storage closet for Japan's elaboratelaboratory -- named Kibo or "Hope" -- which is due to arrive inMay. A final section is scheduled to be installed in 2009.

NASA has until 2010 to complete construction of the stationand retire its three-ship shuttle fleet.

Endeavour arrived at the station on Wednesday to installthe first piece of Kibo, deliver and set up Dextre and replaceone of the station's three live-aboard crewmembers.

NASA's Garrett Reisman is swapping places with Frenchastronaut Leopold Eyharts, who has been aboard since NASA'slast shuttle crew delivered Europe's Columbus researchlaboratory to the station in February.

During Endeavour's 12-day stay at the station, NASA alsoplans a spacewalk to test a technique to repair a damagedshuttle heat shield.

While Endeavour's heat shield has been cleared from anydamage from its March 11 lift-off, NASA wants to be sure tohave options for future crews if their ship becomes too damagedto safely fly back through the atmosphere for landing.

Endeavour is due back at the Kennedy Space Center inFlorida on March 26.

NASA developed an array of inspection tools, repairtechniques and emergency procedures for handling shuttle damageafter losing Columbia and its seven-member crew in 2003.

The shuttle was hit by a piece of falling debris duringlaunch that damaged a wing, leading to the ship's break-up 16days later as it flew toward Florida for landing.

In wake of the accident, the United States decided toretire the shuttle fleet for good by September 30, 2010, andredirect its human spaceflight initiatives toward gettingastronauts back on the moon and developing technologies totravel even farther out in the solar system.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)