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HOUSTON - The US space shuttle Endeavour on Friday completed a two-day trek to intercept the International Space Station and docked with the orbital outpost to deliver its next-to-last support beam and more than two tons of gear.
Shuttle commander Scott Kelly gently pulsed his spaceship's steering jets to align a docking ring in Endeavour's open cargo bay with a matching latch mounted on the front of the station's Destiny laboratory module.
The rings clasped shut at 2:02 p.m. EDT as the two spacecraft sailed 214 miles above the South Pacific.
"Welcome on board," said station commander Fyodor Yurchikhin as a ship's bell on the station was rung to signal the shuttle's arrival, copying a naval tradition.
After checking for leaks, hatches between the shuttle and station were pushed aside and one by one the Endeavour astronauts floated aboard.
Teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who boarded next to last, was given a rock-star welcome, with camera-wielding crew mates jockeying for position like paparazzi.
Morgan, 55, gave up teaching to become an astronaut and fulfill a commitment she made after the 1986 Challenger accident, which claimed the life of teacher-in-space Christa McAuliffe. Morgan served as McAuliffe's backup.
SLOWLY BACK-FLIPPED
An hour before docking, Kelly stopped 400 feet shy of the outpost and slowly back-flipped Endeavour so station cosmonauts Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov could snap pictures of the shuttle's wings and belly.
Engineers on the ground will scrutinize the pictures to determine if Endeavour's heat shield is in good shape for landing.
The survey, one of at least three scheduled during Endeavour's 11- to 14-day mission, was implemented after the 2003 Columbia accident, the cause of which was traced to a heat shield breach when a piece of insulating foam fell from the shuttle's fuel tank and hit the ship's wing during launch.
The shuttle broke apart 16 days later as it flew through the atmosphere for landing, killing all seven crew members.
Nasa redesigned the tanks to reduce the amount of foam that flies off during launch.
Initial analysis showed Endeavour's tank shed several small pieces of foam during its climb to orbit, but none expected to be a concern for Endeavour's mission, managers said.
Endeavour's trip to the space station is its first in nearly five years, during which time the ship underwent a major overhaul and equipment upgrade.
The upgrades included a power adapter that should let the shuttle tap into the station's electrical grid and extend its stay from a week to 10 days.
On board the station, the shuttle crew will prepare for the mission's first spacewalk on Saturday when the new piece of the station's truss will be locked into place.
Nasa needs to fly 11 more construction missions to finish building the station in 2010 when the shuttles are set to retire. It also plans two resupply flights to the station and a final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
- REUTERS
