NASA explains that despite the malfunction in the radar, the shuttle has plenty of precision measures when docked at the station * Only now will the astronauts be able to transmit to the ground the scanning images they made of the shuttle's heat shield, because the same antenna is also responsible for transmitting television broadcasts
Commander of the space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-131, Alan Poindexter was able to dock the shuttle at the space station this morning, as the two spacecraft floated over the Caribbean Sea near Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. At an altitude of about 360 kilometers. Poindexter and his staff completed the meeting Without the Ku-radar antenna used by it (and the TV and data broadcasting system). Instead of the radar, the crew members used an array of other navigational tools that allow precise docking at the space station.
With the opening of the doors between the spacecraft and the shuttle, the traditional welcoming ceremony took place, and this time it turns out that two records were set - one, which we reported a few days ago - the simultaneous stay of four women in space. Another record is the participation of two Japanese astronauts at the station at the same time - Naoko Yamazaki who arrived on the Discovery shuttle and Soichi Noguchi who is staying at the station.
One of the first things the Discovery astronauts will do will be to transmit to Earth the video photographs of the shuttle's heat shield scan, designed to detect vulnerabilities during the launch that may have escaped the notice of ground control personnel and the cameras covering the launch. The television broadcasting system and the broadband data systems were also damaged as a result of the malfunction in the antenna.
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Not now the second team has arrived and the first team returns back in the spaceship of the second team and so they change, etc., etc.
I didn't understand, they actually sent 2 ferries and they met at the station??