Written by Derek Kessler on
Saturday, 09 February 2008
After a hitch-free launch on Thursday, the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis performed an inspection of the craft's sensitive heat shield, discovering that none of the debris shed off the external fuel tank damaged the tiles. The shuttle played a game of orbital chase to catch up with the International Space Station and docked with the outpost early this afternoon.
Atlantis arrived at the station at 11:25 AM EST and performed a backflip prior to docking, allowing the astronauts aboard the ISS to take hundreds of photos of the shuttle's heat shield belly to be analyzed by NASA for signs of damage. The backflip maneuver was instituted after the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia as part of the extensive inspection procedures to ensure the shuttle's post-launch integrity.
The shuttle docked at the end of the ISS's Harmony Node, installed during Discovery's mission late last year, at 12:17 PM. With the ringing of a ceremonial bell at 1:40 PM, the hatches between the two orbital craft were opened.
Carried aboard Atlantis was the Columbus Laboratory, a $2 billion 13.5 ton science module from the European Space Agency. Columbus is currently planned to be installed on the ISS on Monday. The construction will consist of three spacewalks over the next eight days, after which Atlantis will undock from the station and return to Earth.
After a hitch-free launch on Thursday, the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis performed an inspection of the craft's sensitive heat shield, discovering that none of the debris shed off the external fuel tank damaged the tiles. The shuttle played a game of orbital chase to catch up with the International Space Station and docked with the outpost early this afternoon.
