This evening Space Shuttle Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey docked the shuttle to the docking adapter at the International Space Station, a mismatch between the speeds of the two space vehicles caused a delay in docking
Tonight, at 22:04 p.m. Space Shuttle Discovery Commander Steve Lindsay docked the shuttle to the docking adapter at the International Space Station. NASA defined the docking as particularly difficult, due to incompatibility between the speeds of the spacecraft and the station. This is a delay of about 50 minutes compared to the original plan.
Discovery was the first space shuttle to dock at any space station - the Russian space station Mir on June 4, 1998 (mission STS-91). Discovery was also the first space shuttle to dock with the International Space Station on STS-29 in May 1999. The current flight is Discovery's 13th and final flight to the station.
About two hours later, the hatches between the two spaceships were opened and the traditional welcoming ceremony was held. Discovery crew members, including Lindsey, pilot Eric Bowe, and astronauts Alvin Drew, Steve Bowen, Mike Barratt and Nicole Stott, will join the 26th crew of the space station Commander Scott Kelly, and flight engineers Oleg Skripuchka, Alexander Cleary, Dimitri Kondratiev, Paolo Nespoli and Kady Coleman.
After the ceremony and the briefing, the team will begin transferring the cargo from Discovery to the station. Drew Bow Barratt and Stott will operate the station's robotic arm to remove the logistics carrier from the shuttle's cargo deck to the starboard side of the station. It will remain there and be used to store spare parts, including a spare evaporator that is launched inside the logistics cell.
