Station crew welcomes shuttle astronauts

Houston, Dec 12: The shuttle Discovery astronauts floated aboard the International Space Station, the start of a week-long stay to hook up a new power system so new laboratory modules can be added to the complex.

''Tally-ho on the new home,'' astronaut Sunita Williams sang out as the shuttle crew first caught sight of the station. ''It's beautiful. The solar arrays are glowing.'' Replied astronaut Kevin Ford at Mission Control, ''I don't know what kind of creature comforts are going to be aboard, but I know it's going to be a room with a view.'' The seven astronauts, five of whom were making their first trips to space, scrambled through Discovery's hatch and into the welcoming arms of station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and his crew, Mikhail Tyurin of Russia and Thomas Reiter of Germany.

Lopez-Alegria rang the station's bell to signal his guests' arrival, a Naval tradition extended to space.

Televised video from aboard the station showed the beaming party of 10 posing for their first group shot.

The shuttle arrived at the station after a two-day voyage (0342 IST) as the spaceships sailed 220 miles above the Earth.

Before docking, Polansky twirled Discovery 360 degrees around so crew members aboard the station could photograph heat tiles on the ship's belly. The pictures will be analyzed by engineers to make sure the shuttle was not damaged by debris during launch.

The shuttle crew spent its first day in space on Sunday inspecting other parts of the heat shield, part of NASA's post-Columbia safety improvements.

Columbia broke apart as it flew through the atmosphere because of undetected damage to its wing, which had been hit by a piece of insulation that fell off the fuel tank during launch 16 days earlier. All seven astronauts aboard were killed.

NASA redesigned the fuel tanks but until Discovery's liftoff on Saturday had restricted launches to daytime to ensure cameras would be able to spot any debris flying off the tank.

That restriction, however, would not give NASA enough time to finish building the space station before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. With the flexibility to launch at night, NASA hopes to complete at least 14 missions in the next four years.

The work scheduled for Discovery's stay at the station is key to all remaining missions. The astronauts must rewire the station's power grid so it can make use of a new set of solar arrays delivered in September and two more sets of arrays that are awaiting launch.

The increased power is needed for laboratory modules built by Europe and Japan that will be attached to the station beginning next year.

Discovery is also carrying a new piece of the station's external structural backbone, scheduled to be installed during the first spacewalk of the mission today.

The most important transfer was scheduled just after the shuttle crew received a safety briefing by Lopez-Alegria.

Discovery astronaut Williams will become a member of the space station crew, joining Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin. Reiter, who has been in orbit for six months, will return with the shuttle crew.

Williams is to remain aboard the station until June.

Discovery is due back at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 21.

REUTERS

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