Today in Orbit: Station Docking on Tap

After a busy first day in orbit inspecting heat shields, Discovery's seven astronauts today are set to dock with the International Space Station.

The crew is scheduled to wake up at 9:43 a.m. If you're curious to hear what wake-up song Houston's Mission Control Center will pipe into the shuttle this morning, click the NASA TV image on the right side of the page to launch a viewer and watch (and listen) live.

Rendezvous operations will begin with a series of thruster burns starting around 11:30 a.m. to adjust Discovery's trajectory to the station.

As the shuttle approaches, the view of the space station might look a bit like the picture above, which was taken by Endeavour's crew as it approached the outpost last November.

Before a scheduled 5:13 p.m. docking, mission commander Lee Archambault will guide the shuttle through a dramatic back flip just 600 feet beneath the space station, traveling at 17,500 mph more that 200 miles above Earth.

The maneuver enables three astronauts on the station to shoot pictures of the heat shielding tiles covering Discovery's belly, to continue checks for damage.

After the orbiter's docking ring (left) successfully mates with a station port, hatches between the two spaceships are scheduled to open just before 7 p.m., followed by a welcome ceremony on board the station.

The station's Expedition 18 crew - commander Mike Fincke and flight engineers Sandra Magnus and Yury Lonchkov - will welcome their second shuttle to the station. They also worked with Endeavour's crew in November, on the flight that ferried Magnus into space.

Within a half hour after the welcome ceremony, Magnus' four-month tour on Expedition 18 will abruptly end. She'll pull her customized seat liner from the Soyuz spacecraft to make room for one fitted for Koichi Wakata.

Wakata, arriving on Discovery, will become the first Japanese astronaut to participate in a long-duration spaceflight as a member of Expeditions 18 and 19.

Magnus is set to leave the station March 25 with Discovery.

After all the excitement of docking, the station and shuttle crews will go to sleep a little after midnight Eastern time.

The 13-day mission's "heavy lifting" begins Wednesday, when the crews remove the 31,000-pound Starboard 6 truss segment from Discovery's payload bay.

Here's a NASA TV schedule listing the mission's highlights. But revised schedules are released each morning, so look for one here later.

One item not listed: troubleshooting to fix a jammed ergometer, or exercise bike, on the shuttle. It's not working, which limits the astronauts' ability to get their scheduled workouts.

Can't wait for Discovery's docking later? You're in luck! You can play "Dock the Shuttle to the Space Station" at home or work.

This game, courtesy of NASA's Johnson Space Center, requires some paper, scissors and a blindfold, and might be most suitable for kids. It's like a low Earth orbit version of "pin the tail on the donkey." But here are the rules and pictures needed for anyone to play:

Print or draw a picture of a space shuttle and cut it out. Make several copies of the image so there are enough space shuttles for everyone playing the game. Have the players write their names on their shuttles. Use thumbtacks or tape to "dock" the space shuttle.

Place the space station picture on a sturdy wall and make sure it is low enough for all the players to reach. Blindfold the player, turn the player around two or three times and point him or her toward the space station poster. The player should then attempt to "dock" the space shuttle with the International Space Station.

The player's space shuttle closest to the correct configuration wins!

Let's hope commander Archambault left his blindfold at home. You can find more games here, including "Land the Shuttle" - perfect for Discovery's return March 28.

IMAGE NOTE: Above, as shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station approached each other in Earth orbit prior to their Nov. 16, 2008, docking, STS-126 crewmembers took a few photos of the ever-growing orbital outpost. In this same timeframe, the crewmembers aboard the station were taking pictures of the shuttle as it performed a back flip for visual survey and a series of photographs. Other shots shown is Endeavour's Orbital Docking System Ring extended and ready for docking.