The two U.S. astronauts from the space shuttle Atlantis spent more than seven hours during their spacewalk Saturday to further secure and activate the latest addition to the orbiting outpost that is attached to the space station's U.S. laboratory.

 The girder will serve as a backbone for future research and construction projects. It will also be the longest structure in space when it is completed.

 Sunday, two other astronauts will go on a spacewalk to continue additions to the girder, including finishing the installation of a built-in railcar. This will allow the station's robot arm to move more efficiently. NASA calls the system the first space railroad. Atlantis and its seven-man crew arrived at the space station earlier this week for construction work that will require four spacewalks. The shuttle is scheduled to undock from the space station on April 17th and return to Earth two days later.

 The three space station residents left earth more than four months ago. 

Some information for this report provided by Reuters.

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