SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
*Discovery at Space Station, Joint Operations Begin * 25 October 2007
Peggy Whitson and Pam MelroyImage Above: Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson (left) welcomes STS-120 Commander Pam Melroy aboard the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA TV: TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
The STS-120 crew entered the International Space Station for the first time after the hatches between the station and Space Shuttle Discovery opened at 10:39 a.m. EDT today.
Space Shuttle Discovery and the STS-120 crew arrived at the International Space Station at 8:40 a.m., delivering a new module and crew member to the orbital outpost.
One of the first major tasks was the station crew rotation. STS-120 Mission Specialist Daniel Tani switched places with Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson, who wrapped up a four-month tour of duty as an Expedition crew member. Tani is scheduled to stay on the station until he returns to Earth with STS-122 later this year.
Tani officially became a member of Expedition 16 when his custom-made seat liner was swapped out with Anderson’s in the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station.
Also, preparations will begin today for the first of five scheduled STS-120 spacewalks. The first spacewalk is set to kick off at 6:28 a.m. Friday.
*Mission Information* + STS-120 Mission Overview http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts120/index.html + Harmony Node 2 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/behindscenes/harmony_payload.html
+ Space Shuttle Discovery http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/shuttleoperations/orbiters/discovery-info.html