CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery and the international space station joined forces Thursday, linking their ships and kicking off the biggest construction job ever attempted by a single team in orbit.
History was made with the 215-mile-high linkup: It was the first time two female commanders met in space.
Retired Air Force Col. Pamela Melroy steered Discovery in for the docking and was the first to enter the space station. She was embraced by Peggy Whitson, the station’s skipper.
Right before the two spacecraft hooked up, Melroy guided Discovery through a 360-degree backflip so the station crew could photograph the entire shuttle. The pictures were hurriedly beamed down so NASA could determine whether Discovery’s belly sustained any launch damage from ice or insulating foam from the fuel tank.
The small patch of ice that shook loose from fuel tank plumbing at the moment of liftoff Tuesday ended up grazing the fuel-feedline hatch on the bottom of the shuttle. John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team, likened it to an ice cube falling 10 inches and said the hatch was unharmed
In fact, Shannon said most if not all of the shuttle’s thermal shielding looks to be in good shape.
The first of a record-tying five spacewalks is set for Friday.
Astronauts Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock will be outside as a bus-sized compartment named Harmony is unloaded from Discovery’s payload bay and attached to the space station with a robotic arm.
The two spacewalkers will also prepare a space station girder for relocation later in the flight.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.