Discovery Docks at Space Station

August 31, 2009 — Space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station on Sunday night, delivering storage and science racks, a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment, an air purification system and a treadmill named for comedian Stephen Colbert. STS-128 Commander Rick Sturckow steered the shuttle to a soft docking with the orbiting outpost at 8:54 p.m. EDT Sunday after poor weather and a faulty valve in the shuttle’s main propulsion system delayed Discovery’s launch until 11:59 p.m. Friday. For the second time in history, 13 people will work together on one spacecraft for eight days. After opening the hatches and the welcoming ceremony late Sunday, Discovery mission specialist Nicole Stott and station Flight Engineer Tim Kopra exchanged Soyuz seat liners and titles, as Stott becomes a station flight engineer and Kopra a shuttle mission specialist. Kopra moved into the station almost two months ago during STS-127 and will return to Earth when Discovery departs. The 13-day mission will include three spacewalks to replace experiments outside the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory and to install a new ammonia storage tank and return the used one. Ammonia is used to move excess heat from inside the station to the radiators located outside. The mission will also take part in crew seat vibration tests that will help engineers on the ground understand how astronauts experience launch. They’ll then use the information to help design the crew seats that will be used in future NASA spacecraft. Mission specialist José Hernández is posting “tweets” about the mission. Click here to read what he’s posting. STS-128 is the 128th space shuttle flight, the 30th to the station, the 37th for Discovery and the fourth in 2009. Six flights to the station remain after STS-128 before the shuttles retire in 2010.

Space shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space Station prior to performing the rendezvous pitch maneuver or “backflip.” Photo credit: NASA Discovery blasted off at 11:59 p.m. Friday en route to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA

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