Shuttle Atlantis docks with space station
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The Space Shuttle Atlantis, lifts off from Pad-B at Kennedy Space Center Friday
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) -- The space shuttle Atlantis docked early Sunday with the International Space Station as it flew high above the Earth over Asia.
Atlantis successfully linked with the giant orbiting station at 1:51 a.m. EDT. Authorities called it "a textbook rendezvous."
The shuttle and its mixed crew of U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are on a supply and outfitting run to the orbiting construction complex in advance of the first long-duration crew's arrival in November.
The shuttle was trailing the space station by about 403 miles as the astronauts began their workday Saturday with a call from fellow astronaut Shannon Lucid at Mission Control in Houston.
"Good morning, Atlantis, and welcome to rendezvous day," said Lucid, herself a veteran of 188 days aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1996 during an astronaut-cosmonaut exchange program.
"Looks like a great day. We're looking forward to it," called back Atlantis commander Terrence Wilcutt. After a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee, Wilcutt began preparations to fire shuttle's jets, breaking the orbiter's speed about three hours before the scheduled docking.
Before starting a sleep period Saturday morning, the astronauts tried to reactivate a balky navigational tool that had first failed on Friday. But the star tracker instrument failed again when restarted and was turned off for what was likely to be the duration of the flight.
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Although the star tracker is used during the finely choreographed mating of shuttle and station as each fly along at about 5 miles a second, NASA predicted its loss should not prove troublesome.
"It's a minor procedural delta," said lead flight director Phil Engelauf, using space agency jargon for "no big deal." Instead of approaching the station as planned, Wilcutt, a U.S. Marine Corps colonel, will tilt the shuttle so he can get a reading from a similar instrument on the left wing. Wilcutt can also make use of a navigational tool normally used during landing if he needs to.
Engelauf, briefing reporters from Mission Control in Houston, said this was the first time he could recall a star tracker failing, adding that shuttle crews prepare for such a possibility in training.
"It's something better trained for than thought about in real time," he said.
After the docking, U.S. astronaut Ed Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko will perform a scheduled 6 1/2-hour spacewalk connecting power and data cables to the Russian Zvezda module, which arrived at the station in July.
The pair will be lifted about 50 feet up the length of the 13-story station using the shuttle's robot arm, then climb another 50 feet hand-over-hand like rock climbers.
After the spacewalk the Atlantis crew of five Americans and two Russians will move through a tunnel connecting shuttle and station and begin opening hatches connecting the three existing modules.
Then they will unload about 4,800 pounds of supplies from the shuttle's pressurized cargo hold.
They will also unload some 1,300 pounds from an unmanned Progress cargo ship docked at the station.
Most of the cargo is hardware for Zvezda, which was stripped of many onboard systems in Moscow to lighten it during liftoff. Zvezda will serve as headquarters for the first long-duration crew, known as Expedition One.
Among the supplies are a toilet, office supplies, exercise gear and Russian/English dictionaries to be used by the Russo-American expeditionary crews who will inhabit the station during its construction phase, expected to last until about 2006.
The shuttle has enough fuel to extend the 11-day mission one day, giving the crew enough time to begin installation work that would otherwise be left for future crews.
Engelauf said a 12th day was likely, but a decision would not be made until after docking.
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2000
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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