Shuttle docks with space station, brings lab

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis docked with the international space station Saturday, delivering Europe's $2 billion research lab after years of delay.

With commander Stephen Frick at the helm, Atlantis slowly and carefully pulled up to the space station and latched on after performing a giant backflip to give NASA a look at the ship's thermal shield.

The Columbus lab is the European Space Agency's main contribution to the space station. The Europeans had hoped to send the lab up in 1992 to mark the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' sailing, but the mission was delayed by station redesigns, stalled construction and shuttle groundings.

"We got some views of your station as we were still a long way out, and it looks like an amazing star on the horizon," Frick radioed as the shuttle closed in. "It just keeps getting better as we get closer."

The backflip, a routine maneuver since the Columbia disaster in 2003, allowed station crew members to zoom in for pictures of its upper surfaces and belly. Engineers on the ground will scrutinize the images for signs of damage.

Mission Control asked Whitson and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko to take extra pictures of a thermal insulating blanket on the shuttle that was sticking up.

While Atlantis' last mission was extended so spacewalking astronauts could repair a similar thermal blanket that peeled back during liftoff, NASA spokesman Robert Lazaro said the damage reported Saturday was "not a show-stopper."

"They're just going to keep an eye on it and continue with photographic operations," he said.

The backflip, along with Friday's meticulous inspection of Atlantis' wings and nose, became standard procedure after damage from breakaway external tank foam caused the shuttle Columbia to disintegrate, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

After completing the somersault, Frick began guiding the shuttle to a linkup with the station. Atlantis will be the first shuttle to dock at the station's new Harmony module, which the shuttle Discovery delivered last fall.

John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team, said Friday that engineers spotted no damage in a quick look at the images captured during the nose and wing inspection.

Some pieces of insulating foam fell off the external tank three times during liftoff Thursday, but none was big enough to pose any threat, he said A small piece may have bounced off Atlantis' belly seven minutes into the flight, but it lacked enough force to do any damage, he said.

During their weeklong joint mission, the astronauts aboard the linked shuttle-station complex will install and start setting up the 23-foot Columbus lab, the European Space Agency's main contribution to the space station.

Whitson, the station's first female commander, said Columbus' arrival was a great way to celebrate her 48th birthday on Saturday. E-mail to a friend

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