Washington: Space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven astronauts successfully docked with the International Space Station, beginning a "home improvement" mission to double the living space on the orbiting complex.
Docking was confirmed at 5:01 pm (0331 IST today), three minutes earlier than scheduled, NASA television said.
The hatches between the two crafts will open at around 0515 IST, giving time to ensure the airlock is perfectly airtight, NASA said, and ISS residents will welcome their terrestrial visitors.
Endeavour launched on Friday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a 15-day mission to expand the living quarters of the orbiting space station and equip it with a new ovens, a refrigerator and a new toilet.
Before the two crafts linked up, the Endeavour, piloted by commander Chris Ferguson, performed a backflip so astronauts aboard the station could photograph the heat shield for closer analysis.
On Saturday, crew members used the shuttle's robotic arm and an attached boom extension to check the spacecraft s underside, nose cap and leading edges of the wings as well as hard to reach surfaces.
The five-hour examination revealed that a 30 by 45 centimetre (12 by 18 inch) piece of thermal blanket on the rear top of the orbiter apparently ripped off during launch, said NASA engineers back on earth who viewed the images sent by the shuttle.
The gap in the heat shield, however, was considered "of no great concern since it is not an area that experiences high heat during reentry," NASA said in a statement.
