A record crowd of 13 astronauts formed Friday at the International Space Station (ISS), the largest ever in its 11- year history and yet another sign that the project is nearly completed, according to dpa. Station commander, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, rang the bell in the tradition of naval commanders as shuttle Endeavour commander, US astronaut Mark Polansky, floated through the space connecting the open hatches of the two crafts. The ISS was floating 350 kilometres above the Pacific Ocean during the historic moment. Padalka greeted the arriving Endeavour crew, noting the "historic moment" in space station history and adding, "Welcome, we are happy (you are here)." Polansky hugged Padalka, adding: "Thirteen is a pretty big number but it's going to be an outstanding visit for us." Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese astronaut to work on assembly of the space station, will be returning to Earth with the Endeavour crew after the ambitious 16-day mission. "Maybe Koichi is looking forward to a hot shower at home," Polansky said. After its five false starts from Earth, Endeavour docked eight minutes ahead of schedule at 1747 GMT. "They just couldn't wait - they docked early," a NASA spokesman told dpa. Their main mission is to expand Japan's Kibo laboratory module, including an outside porch carried in Endeavour's cargo bay. The four-ton Kibo porch will be used to expose scientific experiments to the extremities of space through X-ray cameras and studies of cosmic dust.
