This
story was updated at 10:45 a.m. EDT
HOUSTON - The space shuttle Discovery
arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) early Thursday with its
seven-astronaut crew set for the challenging task of adding a new orbital room onto
the high-flying laboratory.
After a
two-day orbital chase, Discovery and its STS-120 crew docked at the ISS at 8:40
a.m. EDT (1240 GMT), with shuttle commander Pamela Melroy parking
the 100-ton spacecraft at the tip of the station's U.S. Destiny laboratory.
Inside the space station, Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson - the outpost's
first female commander - rang the ship's bell as both spacecraft crews let
loose celebratory cheers.
"Discovery
arriving," Whitson said as the two spacecraft docked high above the southern Pacific Ocea n.
The orbital
rendezvous marks the first time two spacecraft have docked with female
astronauts in command. Melroy, Whitson and their crews opened the hatches
between their two spacecraft at 10:39 a.m. EDT (1439 GMT), trading hearty hugs
and laughs before posing for photographs.
"We're welcoming them
with open arms, and the towels are all clean and laid out," said Expedition 16
flight engineer Clayton Anderson of the STS-120 crew's arrival.
The joint shuttle-ISS
crew will spend a
busy 10 days together to add a new pressurized module, swap out one station
crewmember and move a 17.5-ton solar power tower during five planned
spacewalks.
Anderson, a NASA
astronaut, is completing a five-month mission aboard the ISS and will return to
Earth aboard Discovery when the shuttle departs on Nov. 4. His replacement,
fellow U.S. spaceflyer Daniel Tani, will officially join the ISS
crew later today once his Russian-built seat liner is moved into the Soyuz
TMA-11 spacecraft berthed the station.
"It's moving day for me
and I can't wait to settle in my new home," said Tani, who awoke to the song
"Dancing in the Moonlight" piped in from Mission Control here at the Johnson Space Center.
Before Discovery docked
at the ISS, Melroy guided the spacecraft through an orbital back flip about 600
feet (182 meters) below the space station. Known as the Rendezvous Pitch
Maneuver, the nine-minute spacecraft somersault allowed Anderson and fellow
Expedition 16 flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko to take high-resolution
photographs of the heat-resistant tiles lining Discovery's underbelly.
The images, combined with
data from a Wednesday scan of the heat-resistant panels along Discovery's wing
edges and nose cap, will allow engineers on Earth to determine the health of
the shuttle's heat shield. An early
analysis of the earlier inspection and images of Discovery's external fuel
tank has given mission managers confidence that the shuttle's heat shield is in
good shape, though a definitive answer is expected by the end of the week. NASA
has kept a close eye on shuttle heat shield integrity and fuel tank debris
during liftoff since the 2003
Columbia accident.
With Discovery
successfully docked at the ISS, a busy mission of orbital construction is set
to begin.
Tucked in the shuttle's
payload bay is Harmony, a nearly
16-ton module that will serve as the anchor for future international
laboratories at the space station. Discovery's STS-120 crew will attach the
Italian-built Harmony node to a temporary berth on the station's Unity node
during the first of five planned spacewalks during their planned 14-day
mission. It will be moved to the front of the Destiny module once Discovery
undocks.
The shuttle astronauts
will also move a massive solar array segment from its mast-like perch atop the
ISS to a permanent spot on the port-most edge of the station's backbone-like
main truss.
"Everyone here is just
ecstatic," STS-120 mission specialist Scott Parazynski told Mission Control.
"We're so fired up to be here and are looking forward to the next several days
shared with the station crew."
NASA is broadcasting
Discovery's STS-120 launch and mission operations live on NASA. Click here for mission updates
and NASA TV from SPACE.com.
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