It also means that the space station now can support a crew of six to eight astronauts. Right now, there is a crew of three onboard the station but that number will be bumped up to six later this year because of the extra energy capacity, said Nguyen.

"This was a vital piece of hardware we installed [Friday]," she added. "It was vital for this mission."

The space with the space station on Tuesday afternoon.

NASA said that a robotic arm onboard the space shuttle, as well as one on the space station played critical roles in Thursday's installation of the truss. Mike Curie, a spokesman for NASA, told Computerworld on Thursday they simply couldn't have done the work without the use of robotics.

"We rely heavily on the combination of robotics and astronauts to accomplish these tasks," said Curie. "Without Canadarm 2 and the original Canadarm on the shuttle, we wouldn't be able to move these heavy objects. We would never be able to complete the space shuttle without these robotics. They're essential to the construction of the International Space Station."