spacetoday.net: Shuttle docks with space station

Posted: Sun, May 16, 2010, 6:32 PM ET (2232 GMT)
STS-132: docking with ISS (NASA)

The space shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station as planned Sunday morning. Atlantis docked with the Harmony node of the station at 10:28 am EDT (1428 GMT) and hatches separating the shuttle and station opened nearly two hours later. The docking took place as planned, after mission controllers concluded that the station did not need to maneuver to avoid a piece of space debris expected to pass close to the station. Atlantis launched on what is scheduled to be its final mission on Friday, carrying a Russian lab module that will be added to the station during the mission. On Monday STS-132 astronauts Garrett Reisman and Steve Bowen are scheduled to perform a 6.5-hour spacewalk, the first of three scheduled for the mission, to install a Ku-band antenna on the station and perform other work.