This
story was updated at 8:37 p.m. EST.
A crew of
astronaut plumbers and electricians arrived at the International Space Station
aboard NASA’s shuttle Endeavour on Sunday to add an extra kitchen,
bathroom and new bedrooms to the orbiting laboratory.
Under the
deft control of shuttle commander Chris Ferguson, Endeavour docked
with the space station at about 5:01 p.m. EST (2101 GMT) as the two
spacecraft flew 212 miles (341 km) above northern India near the Chinese
border. All 10 astronauts celebrated the docking with some hugs and laughs
after opening the hatches between their spacecraft two hours later.
“Welcome
Endeavour, you guys look awesome,” station commander Michael Fincke said
after Endeavour’s crew floated aboard. “We understand that this
house is in need of a makeover and you’re the crew to do it.”
Endeavour launched
toward the station late Friday carrying seven astronauts and an
Italian-built cargo pod filled with more than 14,000 pounds (6,350 kg) of new
gear to help support the orbital outpost’s shift to larger, six-person
crews next year.
In addition
to the new kitchen, toilet and two bedrooms, the shuttle is carrying a space
cooler so station astronauts can have cold drinks for the first time in the
eight years astronauts have lived aboard. Endeavour is also toting a new
water recycling system designed to collect astronaut urine, sweat and other
wastewater into drinkable water.
“We
figured we’d go for a 10-year anniversary party for the International
Space Station, so that’s what we showed up for,” said Ferguson, who will be aboard the station with his crew during its
10th anniversary on Nov. 20. “We’re looking forward to working on
your house and making it look a little bit better when we’re done.”
Before
Endeavour docked at the station, Ferguson flew the 100-ton spacecraft through
graceful orbital back flip so Fincke and station crewmate Greg Chamitoff could
photograph the shuttle’s belly-mounted heat shield. Analysts on Earth
will pore over the high-resolution images over the next several days to look
for any signs of damage, though Fincke reported that, to his eye, the shuttle
appeared to be in good health.
“These
kind of lenses are essentially big telescopes and Greg and I, with our
professionally trained, eyes could not see anything obvious,” Fincke told
Mission Control. “It looks like it was clean and dry, as they say. It
looked really good.”
NASA has
kept close watch its orbiter heat shields since launch debris damaged the
shuttle Columbia’s wing-mounted shielding during its 2003 launch, leading
to the loss of the spacecraft and its crew during re-entry 16 days later.
Mission
managers said after today’s docking that of two pieces of debris spotted from
Endeavour’s Friday launch, one was erroneous while the other did not
strike the shuttle at all. Analysts will work through tonight to decide if a
focused inspection of Endeavour’s starboard wing will be necessary on
Monday, they added.
Orbital
makeover for station
The joint
crews of Endeavour and the space station have a packed docked period ahead to
move nearly seven tons of supplies from the shuttle’s cargo pod into the
orbiting laboratory. Most of that time will be spent moving refrigerator-sized
racks of equipment into place and routing plumbing and electrical lines to
activate them.
“Space
station is still a construction zone,” Endeavour mission specialist Don
Pettit said in a preflight NASA interview. “So what we are doing to space
station is like finished carpentry.”
Unlike past
construction flights, which delivered new modules, truss segments or solar
wings to the station, Endeavour is hauling the internal life support gear that
will allow the outpost to double its crew size to keep up with added
maintenance and science research tasks.
“Knowing
that we have a crucial role in putting the guts of the space station back
together is thrilling,” Ferguson told SPACE.com before flight.
Also vital
is the rather mundane cleaning and grease job on the station’s starboard
side gear, a 10-foot (3-meter) wide ring that spins outboard solar wings like a
paddlewheel to track the sun. Metal grit from the gear grinding into itself has
damaged it, requiring an intense clean-up and lube job for Endeavour
spacewalkers.
“It’s
a pretty humble workman-like task and I’m sure there’s going to be
some bobbles as we figure out how to do it,” NASA Administrator Mike
Griffin told SPACE.com before launch, adding that learning how to make unexpected
repairs is vital for human space exploration. “This is the kind of stuff
that you have to do.”
Crew
swap on tap
Endeavour
is also ferrying NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus to the station, where she plans
to replace Chamitoff as a flight engineer with the outpost’s Expedition
18 crew. Chamitoff has lived aboard the space station since June, and will
return home aboard Endeavour when it lands in two weeks.
“That
was a spectacular, beautiful sight to see you guys coming up underneath us and,
wow!” Chamitoff told Endeavour’s crew after his ride home arrived.
“I am smiling from ear to ear.”
Magnus,
meanwhile, is beginning a planned three-month stay aboard the station with
Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov. A special seat liner made for
Magnus will be installed inside a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked at the station
later today, signifying her official move to the station’s crew. Her
family roused Endeavour’s crew this morning with the song “Start Me
Up” by the Rolling Stones.
“I
want to thank my family for that music and I’m looking forward to moving
into my new home today,” Magnus radioed down to Mission Control in
Houston.
Ferguson
and Endeavour’s lead spacewalker Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper are making their
second trip to the station since 2006, when they helped deliver a pair of new
solar arrays. Magnus last visited the station in 2002, while Pettit spent 5 1/2
months aboard the outpost as an Expedition 6 flight engineer between 2002 and
2003. Endeavour pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Steve Bowen and Shane
Kimbrough are each making their first career spaceflight.
“I
don’t think anybody is more happy to be back than Don, though,”
Ferguson said.
After their
brief celebration, the 10 astronauts went back to work to begin shifting high
priority cargo between Endeavour and the space station, which more than tripled
its population with the shuttle’s arrival.
“On
to work,” Fincke said. “Man, this place just got smaller.”
NASA is
providing live coverage of Endeavour’s STS-126 mission on NASA TV. Click here for SPACE.com’s mission
coverage and NASA TV feed.
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