Ageing space shuttle Atlantis was showing no signs of a ship ready for retirement, with a near-flawless first day of its final flight.

Astronauts successfully moved the International Space Station’s new observation deck to its final resting place after a long, frustrating night spent dealing with stuck bolts and wayward wiring.

Two astronauts who were teaching maths and science to middle school students just five years ago went on a spacewalk together, but could not free a jammed equipment shelf no matter how hard they tried.

Nasa, confronted again with orbiting junk, ordered the astronauts aboard the linked space station and shuttle Discovery to move out of the path of a piece of debris.