Two weeks after the only toilet broke aboard the international space station, Russian Mission Control has some welcome news for astronauts: You can "start using it."

Wednesday's successful repair job came thanks to a 35-pound pump delivered by the space shuttle Discovery. A cosmonaut spent hours installing the device and was told to report later on how well the toilet works.

Mission control told the crew, "We'll keep our fingers crossed."

Since the part failed, astronauts had to use a workaround for urine collection.

Meanwhile, other astronauts were hard at work on the new Japanese space lab known as Kibo. They made power, data, air and water connections in advance of actually turning the module on for the first time.

The work was done inside the complex, without the use of a spacewalk. However, astronauts went outside Tuesday to install the lab.

Later Wednesday, all 10 space fliers on the linked shuttle and station plan to open the doors to the lab and float on in.