Discovery Arrives at International Space Station
Space Shuttle Discovery reached its orbital destination this morning. Discovery docked with the International Space Station at 7:18 a.m. EDT to begin an eight-day stay at the Station.
During the approach to the ISS, the Shuttle crew performed a the first Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver to allow the Station crewmembers to take more imagery of the shuttle's heat shield.
The "rendezvouz pitch maneuver" -- essentially a back flip -- began at 1015 GMT and took place 183 meters (600 feet) below the ISS, after shuttle commander Eileen Collins steered the Discovery to the ISS orbit at an altitude of 400 kilometers (250 miles).
The images from Station will be downlinked and added to the host of imagery and data obtained during Discovery’s launch and Wednesday’s robotic surveys that engineers are analyzing.
Imagery released Wednesday showed a piece of foam being shed from the external tank during Discovery’s ascent. Other photos showed a variety of smaller tile and foam dings that will be reviewed over the next several days. The crew will also downlink the video taken of the External Tank as it fell away from Discovery on Tuesday and video of the clearance between the Orbiter Boom Sensor System and the Ku-band antenna for review.
