Sunita 'Suni' Williams moved into a room with a view at her new home amid the stars for six months as she arrived at the International Space Station.
WASHINGTON: Indian American astronaut Sunita “Suni” Williams moved into a room with a view at her new home amid the stars for six months as she arrived at the International Space Station with her six companions on board Space Shuttle Discovery.
“Tally-ho on the new home,” sang out Suni, as navy commander Sunita Williams is affectionately called by her friends, as the shuttle crew first caught sight of the station. “It’s beautiful. The solar arrays are glowing.” Replied astronaut Kevin Ford at Mission Control in Houston, “I don’t know what kind of creature comforts are going to be aboard, but I know it’s going to be a room with a view.”
Discovery astronauts floated aboard the Space Station at 5:24 a.m. IST Tuesday, the start of a week-long stay to hook up a new power system so new laboratory modules can be added to the complex.
All the seven, five of whom including Williams are making their first trips to space, scrambled through Discovery’s hatch and into the welcoming arms of station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and his crew, Mikhail Tyurin of Russia and Thomas Reiter of Germany. Williams will take the place of Flight Engineer Reiter of European Space Agency who will return to Earth with the other six astronauts Dec 18. The 12-day flight is expected to wrap up with a landing at Kennedy Space Centre on December 21.
The crew transfer becomes official when Williams’ seatliner is installed into the Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked in the station. Lopez-Alegria rang the station’s bell to signal his guests’ arrival, a naval tradition extended to space. Televised video showed the beaming party of 10 posing for their first photograph. The shuttle arrived at the station after a two-day voyage at 4:42 am IST Tuesday as the spaceships sailed 354 km above Earth.
“You’ve got a resident and six houseguests that are ready to come aboard,” radioed commander Mark Polansky as he closed in on the station at a tenth of a foot per second and latches automatically linked the spacecraft as they flew 220 miles during a sunrise. “You guys won’t even have to wipe your feet when you come in,” said Lopez-Alegria.
Earlier Williams woke up to the “Beep Beep” song by Louis Prima with astronaut Shannon Lucid in Mission Control telling her, “Good morning Suni! You need to rise and shine because today is the day that you say, ‘Goodbye shuttle and hello station.’” She radioed back, “I can’t wait to see my new home.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}