Discovery Docks With Space Station
Shuttle Discovery neared the international space station on Monday, carrying its enormous Japanese lab.
The 32,000-pound lab is named Kibo, which is Japanese for hope.
Throughout Monday morning, astronauts conducted a series of engine firings that put the shuttle on its final approach to the orbiting outpost.
The seven astronauts on board will begin work to install the $1 billion lab on Tuesday with help from the space station’s three residents.
Discovery also delivered a new pump for the space station’s Russian-built toilet, which broke 1 1/2 weeks ago. Space officials hope this pump will get it working normally.
As the shuttle came within three miles of the space station, resident Garrett Reisman played C.W. McCall’s "Convoy," the 1975 novelty song about truckers, for Discovery’s crew.
"Keep on truckin’ Discovery," Reisman radioed to the shuttle.
"We are really looking forward to seeing you guys," said Discovery commander Mark Kelly as he guided the shuttle to its Monday afternoon rendezvous with the orbiting outpost. About two hours before docking, the shuttle was less than 3,000 feet from the station.
Also on board the shuttle was Reisman’s replacement, astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who will live aboard the space station for the next six months.
As Kelly guided the shuttle to the orbiting outpost, he guided Discovery through a slow back flip so the station residents could photograph the shuttle’s underside. This is a safety measure that has been put into use since the Columbia disaster in 2003.
The crew performed a cursory wing inspection using the ship’s 50-foot robot arm. The photos were sent to Earth where NASA engineers could determine whether the ship had been damaged during takeoff.
Astronauts were unable to perform routine checks on lower edges of the wings and the nose cap because they lacked the proper laser tools. They plan to retrieve the 50-foot laser-equipped boom, which had been left at the space station by the previous shuttle crew in March. After they depart, they will perform a full survey.
About five pieces of insulating foam broke off Discovery’s external fuel tank during Saturday’s liftoff, and one or two of them may have hit the shuttle.
NASA officials say they aren’t too worried because the foam losses occurred after the crucial first two minutes of the flight and therefore lacked the acceleration to do much, if any, damage.
"To me, it looked really good," flight director Matt Abbott said from Johnson Space Center. But he cautioned: "We’ve got a lot of work to do to go through the data."
On Monday, NASA officials said they would be forming an investigation board to find out how a section of the shuttle’s launchpad in Florida sustained "severe damage" when Discovery blasted off on Saturday.
A 100-foot by 20-foot section of the flame trench – a concrete and brick structure that deflects the flames from the shuttle’s main engines and from the solid rocket boosters – had been broken up and scattered.
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Image Caption: A view of the STS-124 crew members as they are welcomed aboard the International Space Station by the Expedition 17 crew members. Photo credit: NASA TV
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