spacetoday.net: Discovery docks with ISS

Posted: Mon, Aug 31, 2009, 6:00 AM ET (1000 GMT)
STS-128: shuttle on approach to ISS (NASA)

On the 25th anniversary of its maiden launch, the space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station on Sunday evening. Discovery docked with the station at 8:54 pm EDT Sunday (0054 GMT Monday), and the hatches separating the two spacecraft opened a little over an hour and a half later. The docking took place smoothly despite a problem with the shuttle's thrusters that forced the crew to use larger, more powerful thrusters to guide the shuttle to its docking port. Discovery will remain docked to the station for over a week as the combined shuttle and station crews transfer cargo ferried to the station and also perform three spacewalks outside the ISS. The docking took place 25 years to the day after the launch of Discovery on its first mission, STS-41D; STS-128 is the orbiter's 37th mission.