STS-130: Flight Day 3 Wrap-Up
By TonyF on 10 February 2010 at 9:20AM
Endeavour docked with the ISS exactly on time at 12:06 EST early Wednesday morning. NASA reports:
Image above: The STS-130 and Expedition 22 crew members greet each other just after hatch opening. Image credit: NASA TV
› Meet the STS-130 Crew
Space shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station at 12:06 a.m. EST Wednesday, delivering the Tranquility module and its new room with a view, the cupola.
Endeavour Commander George Zamka guided the orbiter to a docking with Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 as the two spacecraft were flying 215 miles above Earth off the western coast of Portugal.
When the shuttle arrived within 600 feet of the station, Endeavour performed the nine-minute Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, or “back flip.” Zamka rotated the orbiter backwards, enabling space station Commander Jeffrey Williams and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov to take high-resolution pictures of the shuttle. The images will be analyzed by experts on the ground to assess the health of Endeavour’s heat shield.
The shuttle and station crews opened hatches at 2:16 a.m. as Endeavour and the outpost flew off the northwest coast of Australia. With the arrival of Endeavour’s six astronauts, the station’s population grows to 11 and its mass tops 1 million pounds.
Endeavour’s crew will awaken at 4:14 p.m. Wednesday’s work will focus on supply transfers, spacewalk preparations and Water Recovery System repairs. Thursday’s work will focus on installation of the new Tranquility module onto the Unity module and the mission’s first spacewalk.
Live video at SFN and Florida Today. Discussion at Nasaspaceflight. Status Report #5 here. Flight Day 2 and Mission Control pics, as well as video from FD1 and FD2 are up at the JSC Gallery. Launch pics and video at KSC. More clips at Space Multimedia. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.
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