Discovery at Space Station; Joint Operations Underway

Preparations will also begin today for the first of five scheduled spacewalks.

Photo courtesy: NASA

(HOUSTON) - The Discovery crew entered the International Space Station for the first time after the hatches between the station and Space Shuttle Discovery opened at 10:39 AM EDT today.

Space Shuttle Discovery and the STS-120 crew arrived at the International Space Station at 8:40 AM, delivering a new module and crew member to the orbital outpost.

One of the first major tasks is the station crew rotation. STS-120 Mission Specialist Daniel Tani will switch places with Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson, who will be wrapping up a four-month tour of duty as an Expedition crew member. Tani is scheduled to stay on the station until he returns to Earth with STS-122 later this year.

Tani will officially become a member of Expedition 16 when his custom-made seat liner is swapped out with Anderson’s in the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station.

Also, preparations will begin today for the first of five scheduled STS-120 spacewalks. The first spacewalk is set to kick off at 6:28 a.m. Friday.
Source: NASA