Shanghai Daily | 上海日报 -- English Window to China News

ASTRONAUTS aboard the international space station and the newly arrived shuttle Endeavour planned yesterday to start unpacking a new toilet and a device that purifies urine and sweat into drinkable water at the orbiting outpost.

Their main task is to unload a cargo container nicknamed "Leonardo" from space shuttle Endeavour's belly and attach it to the international space station. Inside the 6.4-meter-long container is almost 6,800 kilograms of equipment that will allow the space station to expand from three to six crew members next year.

"Things are going exceedingly well," said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team.

Besides the extra bathroom and urine processor, Endeavour delivered an exercise machine, kitchenette and two sleeping compartments. Endeavour docked with the space station on Sunday, almost two days after it launched.

The shuttle's crew will spend two weeks orbiting 354 kilometers above Earth at the outpost, setting up the new equipment and going on four spacewalks to clean and lubricate a solar wing-rotating joint that broke down more than a year ago.

Once the hatch opened between the space station and shuttle, it looked like a family reunion. The shuttle's seven astronauts exchanged a chorus of greetings with the station's three crew members, hugging one another and shaking hands.

"Sandy, welcome to your new home," space station commander Mike Fincke told astronaut Sandra Magnus, who traded places with astronaut Gregory Chamitoff as a space station crew member. After six months at the station, Chamitoff will return to Earth with Endeavour.

Analysts are continuing to examine pictures taken during launch and right before Endeavour docked to see if there is any damage.