Saturday, February 09, 2008

Live in orbit: Atlantis docks with space station














The ISS crew waits to welcome their guests from Atlantis.


Click for video.

Atlantis docked with the International Space Station at 12:17 p.m. EST, slightly ahead of the scheduled 12:25 p.m. EST docking time.

The space station rang the ship's bell and welcomed the guests.

"Atlantis arriving," said ISS flight engineer Dan Tani.

Leak checks will take about an hour before the two crews can be united.

During a flip maneuver before docking, astronauts in the ISS focused cameras on an apparent tear in an insulation blanket on the starboard Orbital Maneuvering System pod. The tear appeared to be several inches wide.

Tears in the OMS pod blankets have been reported on other missions, and orbiters have re-entered the atmosphere safely. During STS-117, astronaut Danny Olivas made temporary repairs to an OMS pod blanket during a spacewalk.

The crews will open the hatches between the spacecraft about 1:35 p.m. EST.

Click for STS-122 fact sheet.

Click for NASA-TV schedule, which gives a mission timeline.












The Orbital Maneuvering System pod is just below the rudder.

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