Three International Space Station residents greeted Discovery's seven astronauts with hugs and handshakes as they climbed through an airlock just after 7 p.m."Space shuttle Discovery arriving," station flight engineer Sandra Magnus called out while ringing a bell.
"Welcome aboard our beautiful International Space Station," said Mike Fincke, the leader of the station's Expedition 18 crew. "We're dang glad you're here."
"We've got a lot of work to do," said shuttle commander Lee Archambault. "We're looking forward to it, but this is a very special moment. Thanks for having us aboard."
"So, let's get to work," said Fincke.
The joint teams immediately began a standard safety briefing.
Within the hour, Magnus was scheduled to officially hand over her post on the station to Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who flew up with Discovery.
That happens when Magnus removes her customized seat liner from the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that would serve as the station's escape vehicle in an emergency.
Wakata will transfer his seat liner from the shuttle to the Soyuz and become a member of Expedition 18. He's expected to stay in orbit, during which time he'll transition to another crew: Expedition 19.
In addition to transfering the seat liners, crew members will begin transfering some cargo and two spacesuits scheduled to get their first use on Thursday during the first of three planned spacewalks.
NASA managers described today's shuttle docking as extremely smooth, reporting no technical problems.
"I can't think of any one I've had in recent memory that went that smooth," said Paul Dye, lead shuttle flight director.
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