14 DAY TRIAL // The Discovery space shuttle finally completed a huge part of the STS-119 mission on Tuesday evening, when it finally docked on the International Space Station. The procedure ended at 5:19 pm EDT (2119 GMT) and the three astronauts aboard the orbital facility were very pleased to eventually be able to see other people as well. All the seven members of Discovery's crew were met with wide smiles and warm hugs. But the ISS astronauts paid special attention to their new colleague, Japanese spaceflyer Koichi Wakata, who will replace NASA expert Sandra Magnus.
The docking process went very smoothly, the astronauts on the shuttle and the mission controllers said. The only thing the crew had to compensate for was a small delay in communication. Also, they had to make some pretty interesting maneuvers below the ISS, so that the three experts aboard the facility could photograph the several thousands of tiles that made Discovery's heat shield.
An inspection of the shield also took place on Monday, after the shuttle reached orbit. The 6-hour check involved an astronaut moving around a pole covered with sensors, which was passed underneath the tip of the wings and the nose of the spacecraft. The goal of these check-ups is to ensure that an accident such as that in which the Colombia shuttle was lost is never repeated. That mission failed because some of the tiles on the ship's shields ripped apart and caused the entire craft to burn into a fireball.
Over the next few days, while the Discovery and the ISS crews work together to install the last truss rod segment of the lab and the last array of solar panels, inspectors at NASA's laboratories will analyze the hi-res pictures sent back by ISS mission commander Michael Fincke, and will determine if the mission is threatened in any way. In addition, the 7 astronauts will perform another inspection today, with another one to follow after the shuttle un-docks from the space station, some 12 days from now.
In addition to the large “packages” Discovery is carrying, the shuttle transport has also brought aboard a number of smaller, but vital components to life on the station, such as a micro-system for the urine purifier, equipment to rid the new water dispenser of bacteria, and other such things. This may seem like a small thing, but the repairs done on the water-recycling system will allow the ISS to support larger, 6-astronaut crews later this year.