The long-delayed Columbus space laboratory is finally where it's supposed to be. Earlier today, two mission specialists from the European Space Agency (ESA), who last week flew aboard the Atlantis space shuttle, opened the hatches to the US $2 billion lab for the first time in its new home at the International Space Station (ISS).

According to NASA, ESA atronauts Leopold Eyharts and Hans Schlegel threw open the doors to the new lab at 9:08 am EST. Whereupon, Eyharts pronounced: "This is a great moment and Hans and I are very proud to be here and to ingress for the first time the Columbus module."

Yesterday, Walheim and Mission Specialist Stanley Love conducted a space walk to help connect the module to the rest of the ISS, after Atlantis's robotic arm had attached the 23-foot long lab to its mooring position. Crew members from the ISS and space shuttle will work over the next five days in space to integrate the module's systems into those of the ISS.

The addition of Columbus brings the number of modules on the space station to eight.

The lab had been scheduled for integration into the ISS for many years, but problems with both the shuttle and space station programs delayed the delivery of Columbus until this time.

NASA and ESA hope the science it produces in the future will be all worth the long wait.

(See our previous post Shuttle Carries Columbus Laboratory into Space for more on the mission of STS-122.)