The Columbus laboratory has been installed on the international space station, giving Europe its first permanent research facility in space.

Astronauts Leland Melvin and Dan Tani used a robot arm to lift the ten-tonne cylinder from the cargo bay of space shuttle Atlantis and slip it on to a station berthing port in a moment put off for years by shuttle problems.

It was supposed to be delivered in 2002 but was postponed by delays launching the space station's service module and then the explosion of the shuttle Columbia in 2003 that led to a suspension of flights for over two years.

Nasa had to postpone installation for a day because the German astronaut Hans Schlegel, who was scheduled to take part in a spacewalk, fell ill.

But junior astronaut Stan Love filled in and worked with the lead spacewalker Rex Walheim to prepare Columbus for its move from the shuttle.

French astronaut Leopold Eyharts said: "This will be the first time Europe will have a permanent base in space."

He added: "We hope that this first participation will help in reinforcing our technical expertise and our experience of operations to be able to go further and participate with the future of space exploration."

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