The crews of Atlantis and the international space station greeted each other with hugs and handshakes Sunday after the space shuttle arrived at the orbiting outpost. But amid the smiles and salutations, questions remained unanswered about a section of peeled-back thermal blanket on the shuttle. Engineers continued to review photographs of the affected area to determine whether it could pose a problem when Atlantis returns to Earth next week. Hatches between the two spacecraft opened about 1 1/2-hours after the shuttle docked with the space station following leak checks. "Atlantis arriving," U.S. space station resident Sunita Williams said after the traditional ringing of a bell. Atlantis' astronauts floated into the space station's Destiny laboratory and hugged each of the station's residents, which besides Williams includes commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and cosmonaut Oleg Kotov. After exchanging greetings and receiving a safety briefing from Yurchikhin, both crews resumed working. Before reaching the space station, Atlantis commander Rick Sturckow told Yurchikhin that shuttle astronaut Clayton Anderson was ready to relieve Williams on the station. "Are you sure Clay is onboard?" Yurchikhin said. "Yes, we checked before we launched from Florida," Sturckow said amid laughter, according to a report of the Associated Press. Sturckow eased the shuttle into the space station's docking port. Latches fastened the shuttle and orbiting space lab together at 3:36 p.m. EDT. The shuttle's two-day chase of the space station ended about 210 miles above southeastern Australia. It was the first visit this year by a shuttle to the space station. The shuttle was delivering Anderson, the newest member of the space station's crew, as well as a new segment to the orbiting outpost.
