Shuttle Atlantis Docks With Space Station
Space shuttle Atlantis docked with the international space station, delivering a new $164-million passageway for spacewalkers, officials at Cape Canaveral said.
The two craft linked up high above South America, ending a chase of nearly two days.
The space station residents, in orbit since March, were eager to greet their latest guests and kept tabs on the shuttle’s slow, deliberate approach.
The eight space travelers--five on Atlantis and three on space station Alpha--will work together to install the new air lock, beginning this weekend.
The pressurized chamber will be used by astronauts and cosmonauts as a spacewalk dressing room and a portal into the vacuum of space.
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