Atlantis maneuvered toward a rendezvous with the international space station on Saturday, bringing a new US$2 billion (¤1.4 billion) lab that European scientists can't wait to see installed, reported ap. The shuttle had been on a two-day, high-speed chase to catch up with the station. The meeting will give NASA engineers another chance to search for launch damage to the shuttle's thermal shielding, the problem that doomed Columbia in 2003. Atlantis' seven-man crew spent much of Friday examining the ship's nose and wings with a 100-foot (30-meter) laser-tipped boom. The images were beamed down to Earth for analysis by engineers, and a quick look revealed no significant damage. On Saturday, shuttle commander Stephen Frick was scheduled to steer Atlantis through a giant backflip 600 feet (180 meters) below the space station. The maneuver will allow station crew members to zoom in for pictures of its belly that will be sent to Houston for analysis. Once Frick completes the backflip, he will guide the shuttle to a linkup with the space station, while both vessels travel at 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kph). The astronauts awoke Saturday to the twangy jingle for «Powdermilk Biscuits,» the fictitious sponsor of the radio variety show «A Prairie Home Companion.» «We're looking forward to a great day of rendezvous and no better way to start it than a nice wake-up like that,» Frick said, thanking his wife for selecting the tune. Inspections like Friday's became standard procedure after a piece of foam broke off Columbia's external fuel tank during liftoff and gashed a wing, allowing hot gases to penetrate the spacecraft during its return to Earth. The shuttle disintegrated, killing all seven astronauts. Some pieces of insulating foam fell off the external tank three times during liftoff Thursday, but none was big enough to pose any threat, said John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team. A small piece may have bounced off Atlantis' belly seven minutes into the flight, but it lacked enough force to do any damage, he said. During their weeklong joint mission, the astronauts aboard the linked shuttle-station complex will install the 23-foot (7-meter) Columbus lab and start setting up and activating the module. Columbus is the European Space Agency's main contribution to the space station. Twenty-three years in the making, the lab was supposed to be launched in 1992 to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' voyage to the New World. But station redesigns and stalled construction, as well as shuttle groundings, led to 16 years of delay. Astronaut Peggy Whitson, the station's first female commander, said Columbus' arrival will be a great way to celebrate her 48th birthday on Saturday. «We are looking forward to helping you over the next couple of days unpacking and enjoying your birthday present,» an official with the European Space Agency's Mission Control told Whitson on Saturday.
