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Flawless Shuttle Mission Continues With Station Rendezvous
SpaceDaily US Editor Washington DC (SPX) Jul 07, 2006 Shuttle Discovery successfully docked with the International Space Station on Thursday and the two crews immediately began joint operations expected to last for at least 10 days. The day's events began with Steve Lindsey, the shuttle commander, piloting Discovery through a nine-minute, 360-degree back-flip maneuver to allow station crew members Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffrey Williams to record high-resolution images of the orbiter's heat shield to check for possible damages. To date, nothing significant has been found and the only item of interest was a smear of material thought to be bird droppings on the shuttle's wing tip. Examinations of Discovery's exterior on Wednesday using cameras operated by the shuttle crew, and reviews of videotapes of Tuesday's launch by ground personnel, likewise have shown no significant damage to the spacecraft. "We have a very clean vehicle," Tony Ceccacci, the shuttle's flight director, told reporters at a briefing Wednesday. The seven STS-121 astronauts arrived at the station at 10:52 Eastern Time, after a slow and precise docking maneuver. Vinogradov and Williams welcomed their guests at 12:30 p.m. The two groups exchanged hugs and greetings, while a NASA mission controller in Houston, Texas, could be heard on the space agency's TV channel saying, "Great job on the rendezvous and good luck with your work." The first task for the joint crew is to transfer part of the 2.5 tons of supplies and equipment hauled by Discovery into the station. Also arriving with the shuttle crew was ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, who will stay on after Discovery departs to become Expedition 13's third crew member. Among the shuttle's cargo is an oxygen generator, which will enable the station crew to grow to six members by 2009. In Discovery's payload bay is the Italian-built Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module. Leonardo is scheduled to be lifted out of the bay and attached to the station on Friday. Along with Lindsey, the shuttle crew members include pilot Mark Kelly and mission specialists Michael Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers. Fossum and Sellers are scheduled to perform two and possibly three spacewalks during their stay aboard the ISS. The shuttle currently is set to return to Earth on either July 16 or 17. Related Links Shuttle at NASA
Discovery Does Backflip For Crucial Safety Pictures
Houston, Texas (AFP) Jul 06, 2006Discovery Commander Steven Lindsey successfully steered the space shuttle into a tricky backflip Thursday, allowing the International Space Station crew to take pictures critical to the shuttle's safety, NASA said. |
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