Nasa astronauts have successfully completed their mission to install Europe's space laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS).

A crew of ten have been working on the Columbus lab to kit it out with computers, power and a heating system, ahead of planned experiments at the research facility.

French astronaut Leopold Eyharts went inside the module and said it appeared to be in good shape, calling the event "a great moment".

Columbus is Europe's first permanent space research facility and cost over £1 billion to build.

After years of delay, it was taken up to the ISS by the shuttle Atlantis last week and was installed on Monday during an eight-hour spacewalk - longer than expected.

The outing was scheduled to take place on Sunday, but was delayed when spacewalker Hans Schlegel fell ill.

Schlegel, 56, was to join Rex Walheim on the spacewalk but had to be replaced by Stan Love due to an illness that Nasa refuses to disclose.

The lab was supposed to go up in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the sailing of Christopher Columbus, but space station and then shuttle problems delayed the launch.

Walheim and Love are scheduled to make the third and final spacewalk of the mission on Friday. Atlantis is currently scheduled to return to Earth on February 19.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.