Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Shuttle Discovery arrives at space station

Space shuttle Discovery has arrived at the International Space Station (ISS), on Sunday ending a round-the-world chase of nearly two days. The final approach and docking ended up being slightly more challenging for Discovery's commander, Rick Sturckow.

He had to use the shuttle's big primary thrusters for all the maneuvering instead of the small fine-tuning thrusters because of a breakdown in one of the little jets.
He is the first to approach the station that way.

Discovery and its crew of seven are delivering thousands of pounds of science experiments and equipment, including a treadmill named for Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert.

The shuttle will remain at the station until next week.

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