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Endeavour makes midnight arrival at station
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: February 10, 2010


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The shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station early Wednesday after a picture-perfect rendezvous that included spectacular views of the shuttle against the blue-and-white backdrop of Earth.


Credit: NASA
 
With shuttle commander George Zamka flying Endeavour from the aft flight deck, the docking systems engaged on time at 12:06 a.m. EST as the two spacecraft sailed 215 miles above the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal at five miles per second.

"Station and Houston, capture confirmed," shuttle pilot Terry Virts called out.

Going into this mission, the space station's mass was 764,350 pounds. With the addition of Endeavour and its cargo - the 15-ton Tranquility module, a multi-window cupola and other equipment - the combined mass of both spacecraft exceeded 1 million pounds for the first time.

It took longer than usual for relative motion to damp out between the two spacecraft but by 12:50 a.m., the docking systems were aligned and stable and the vehicles were pulled firmly together.

It took another hour and a half or so to carry out leak checks and confirm a tight seal. After that, hatches were opened and station commander Jeffrey Williams and his crewmates - T.J. Creamer, Soichi Noguchi, Oleg Kotov and Max Suraev - welcomed the shuttle astronauts aboard around 2:15 a.m.

"We just wanted to take a moment to welcome the crew of STS-130 aboard the ISS," Williams said. "We're happy to see our friends. Some of us are really happy because we haven't seen many people other than the crew for a long time. And happy that we're coming close to the completion of assembly of station with this mission. So really happy to have you guys on board."

"Jeff, we are glad to be here," Zamka replied. "It was absolutely beautiful coming on up. We're ready to bring up Tranquility and cupola and work with you guys and bring it to life. This is a great day."

Lead shuttle Flight Director Kwatsi Alibaruho said the rendezvous and docking went smoothly despite problems with a trajectory control system laser range finder.

"We had an excellent day on orbit today and a very clean rendezvous and docking," he said. "The only issues we were tracking were associated with the trajectory control system. It's basically a laser range system that provides us range and range-rate data between the space shuttle and the space station that helps the commander navigate as he's flying the final approach.

"That system started providing some erratic data when we were at about 200 feet away from the space station. It wasn't a problem at all because this really is one of several tools that we have. ... We just relied more heavily on the hand-held laser and disregarded some of the noisy data that was coming from the trajectory control system."

Before docking, when Endeavour was positioned 600 feet directly below the space station, Zamka monitored a computer-assisted back flip maneuver that exposed heat shield tiles on the belly of the shuttle to powerful cameras operated by Williams and Kotov.

The rendezvous pitch maneuver is part of a post-Columbia suite of techniques to help engineers assess the health of the shuttle's heat shield.

The digital images shot during the rendezvous pitch maneuver were downlinked right away and Alibaruho said no obvious problems were immediately apparent. The team will know by the end of the day Wednesday whether any additional inspections are required.

"Really, by close of business this day, we should have a very good sense of whether or not we have any outstanding concerns or whether we're well on the path to the thermal protection system being cleared for entry," he said.

"If we get past these meetings we have today with no requirements for focused inspection and no significant concerns ... it's very, very high likelihood the TPS (thermal protection system) will be cleared for entry in due course."

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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: HATCHWAY OPENED BETWEEN TWO SPACECRAFT PLAY
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR DOCKS TO THE SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE PERFORMS 360-DEGREE BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: STUNNING SHOT OF SHUTTLE AGAINST HORIZON PLAY
VIDEO: STATION'S VIEW OF SHUTTLE ENGINE FIRING PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF FLIGHT DAY 3 ACTIVITIES PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY AFTERNOON'S MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY

VIDEO: AMAZING LAUNCH FOOTAGE FROM COCKPIT CAMERA PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF WING INSPECTIONS PLAY
VIDEO: INSPECTION BOOM READIED FOR USE PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF FLIGHT DAY 2 ACTIVITIES PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED TOUR OF ENDEAVOUR'S PAYLOAD BAY PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: THE FULL STS-130 LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR BLASTS OFF! PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: GO BEHIND THE SCENES IN MISSION CONTROL PLAY
VIDEO: JETTISONED EXTERNAL FUEL TANK TUMBLES AWAY PLAY
VIDEO: PAYLOAD BAY DOORS OPENED FOLLOWING LAUNCH PLAY

VIDEO: CREW FINISHES GETTING SUITED UP PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS LEAVE CREW QUARTERS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES AT LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS BOARD THEIR SPACECRAFT PLAY

VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: VAB ROOF PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD PERIMETER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BEACH TRACKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD CAMERA 070 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD CAMERA 071 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: UCS-23 TRACKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PLAYALINDA BEACH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD FRONT CAMERA PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BANANA CREEK SITE PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF SHUTTLE'S PREPARATIONS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF PAYLOADS' PREPARATIONS PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: EXPLANATION OF WEATHER PROBLEMS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LOW CLOUDS SCRUB FIRST COUNTDOWN PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DEPART QUARTERS FOR PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW GETS SUITED UP FOR LAUNCH ATTEMPT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PAD SERVICE GANTRY RETRACTED PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF MOBILE TOWER ROLLBACK PLAY

VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH COMMANDER GEORGE ZAMKA PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH PILOT TERRY VIRTS PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MISSION SPECIALIST 1 KAY HIRE PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MISSION SPECIALIST 2 STEVE ROBINSON PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MISSION SPECIALIST 3 NICK PATRICK PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MISSION SPECIALIST 4 BOB BEHNKEN PLAY

VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR'S PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: THURSDAY STATUS AND WEATHER UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: COUNTDOWN PREVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: LAUNCH DATE SET AT FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW PLAY
VIDEO: PAYLOAD BAY DOORS CLOSED FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW SEES TRANQUILITY LOADED INTO SHUTTLE PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: SHUTTLE EVACUATION PRACTICE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS BOARD ENDEAVOUR PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: THE LAUNCH DAY SIMULATION BEGINS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PAD BUNKER TRAINING FOR THE CREW PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW BRIEFED ON EMERGENCY PROCEDURES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TEST-DRIVING AN EMERGENCY ARMORED TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NIGHTTIME APPROACHES IN TRAINING AIRCRAFT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS CHAT WITH REPORTERS AT PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKER UPDATES COOLING HOSE FIX PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ROBINSON'S THOUGHTS ON SHUTTLE RETIREMENT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: TRANQUILITY DELIVERED TO PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PAYLOAD TRANSPORTER GOES UPRIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PACKING UP PAYLOAD FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR'S FRIGID ROLLOUT TO PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR HOISTED FOR ATTACHMENT TO TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CRANE ROTATES THE ORBITER VERTICALLY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR MOVES TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE SHOWS ENDEAVOUR ASCENDING IN VAB PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE SHOWS THE MOVE TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY

VIDEO: ORBITER READY TO LEAVE HANGAR PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: EXTERNAL TANK ATTACHED TO BOOSTERS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR'S MAIN ENGINE INSTALLATION PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS VISIT THEIR SPACECRAFT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW INSPECTS MISSION PAYLOADS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FUEL TANK UNLOADED FROM THE BARGE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: EXTERNAL TANK ARRIVES AT SPACEPORT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FORWARD THRUSTER POD CHECKED OUT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR TOWED OFF RUNWAY FROM STS-127 PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: TRANQUILITY HATCH SEALED FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CUPOLA ATTACHED TO TRANQUILITY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: THE SPACE STATION'S NEW CUPOLA PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TRANQUILITY UNPACKED IN FLORIDA PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NEW MODULE ARRIVES FROM EUROPE PLAY | HI-DEF
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