Astronauts attach new addition to space station

— -- Anyone who has tried to stuff a sleeping bag back into its storage sack can sympathize with the two astronauts who made a spacewalk today.

The two spacewalkers had to drape fabric blankets, similar to high-tech dust covers, over several structures on the International Space Station to ensure the items don't freeze during an upcoming relocation. But the covers and their fastening straps seemed a little too small for the structures they were supposed to protect, and the astronauts struggled with the task.

"It's probably 6-8 inches too short here," said astronaut Douglas Wheelock as he tried to strap the blanket over a cooling radiator. Later Wheelock, who was trying to put a cover over an electronics box, reached the end of his safety tether and could not move any farther to finish the task.

But in the end, Wheelock and his spacewalking partner Scott Parazynski got that job done and also finished everything else they were supposed to do. Meanwhile, as the spacewalkers worked, their crewmates succeeded in bolting a new room onto the space station. The room, called Node 2, will serve as a bedroom and a foyer that will lead to scientific laboratories.

"That's pretty amazing," Parazynksi said near the end of his spacewalk after spotting the new room installed into place. "When I came through here (earlier) there wasn't a node here."

Parazynski and Wheelock arrived Thursday aboard space shuttle Discovery at the space station, an orbiting research center operated by 16 nations. Their spacewalk was the first of five that will take place over the next week — a record number for a shuttle mission to the space station. Only two shuttle missions to repair the Hubble Space Telescope boasted five spacewalks.

Before the spacewalk, NASA officials' biggest worry was the coolant system that Parazynski had to work on. He had to disconnect four coolant lines, which contain toxic ammonia. An astronaut doing the same task five years ago got sprayed with frozen ammonia crystals but suffered no injury.