Discovery arrived at the international space station Thursday, but before docking performed an unprecedented back flip to allow those aboard the station to photograph the spacecraft's belly for signs of damage, AP reported. Discovery was just 600 feet (183 meters) beneath the station when Commander Eileen Collins manually turned the shuttle's nose upward and slowly flipped the spacecraft over. Collins then began repositioning the vehicle for docking, expected after 7 a.m. «We're looking forward to seeing you guys,» Collins told station Commander Sergei Kirkalev when the shuttle was a little more than 5,000 feet (1524 meters) from the station. «Your space station looks absolutely beautiful from the outside.» Live images from television cameras on the station captured the shuttle's flip with the Earth below. It took about five minutes for the shuttle to completely turn over. The pring liftoff _ as it did in Columbia's doomed mission. This time, the foam apparently missed the spacecraft. Discovery was the first shuttle to return to orbit in the 2½ years since Columbia broke apart over Texas as it returned to Earth on Feb. 1, 2003. All seven astronauts aboard died. --mor 1408 Local Time 1108 GMT
