Nasa shuttle Atlantis arrives at space station for its final mission

The space shuttle Atlantis has arrived safely at the International Space Station on its final mission to the orbital outpost.

Atlantis commander Ken Ham inched his 100-tonne spaceship into a docking port yesterday afternoon as the shuttle and station soared around the planet at 17,500 mph.

'Welcome to station,' flight engineer Soichi Noguchi radioed to the Atlantis crew.

The hatch between the two spacecrafts were opened at 4.18pm (GMT), when the Atlantis crew doubled the population on the ISS to twelve.

It's bigger than when we remember and, speaking for myself, better than we remember. I love this place,' said shuttle Commander Ken Ham.

Atlantis is carrying a Russian module called Rassvet - Russian for "dawn" - a combination research lab and docking port for Russian and European capsules.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1279027/Nasa-space-shuttle-Atlantis-arrives-ISS-final-mission.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz0oBUlb5wL

The shuttle crew are also delivering an equipment rack filled with fresh batteries for the station's solar power system and a work platform for the station's Canadian-built robot arm.

All the equipment will be installed by the shuttle crew during three spacewalks this week. The first is scheduled for today.

Atlantis blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday for what is expected to be its final mission before retirement.

Sister ships Discovery and Endeavour are scheduled to make their final flights to the space station later this year and then Nasa plans to end its shuttle program.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1279027/Nasa-space-shuttle-Atlantis-arrives-ISS-final-mission.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz0oBUoSQZl

Before docking, the shuttle performed its usual backflip yesterday morning so astronauts aboard the space station could check the underside of the shuttle for any damage it may have sustained during the launch.

The survey could not be completed on schedule due to a snagged cable.

'Once we get all that imagery on the ground, the team will determine if we need to go get additional information or views of Atlantis before we're ready to declare the heat shield ready to go,' flight director Mike Sarafin said.

The routine safety check was implemented after the 2003 Columbia accident.

Atlantis is due to land at the Kennedy Space Center on May 26.