Astronauts Arrive at Space Station Safely
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The Atlantis astronauts glided to a picture-perfect docking with the international space station early Sunday and geared up for an overnight spacewalk to electrically connect a new Russian command module.
With both streaking through space at five miles per second, the 120-ton shuttle gently docked with the unmanned 67-ton space station at 1:52 a.m. Sunday.
Atlantis’ seven-man crew will float into the station for the first time late today to begin readying the outpost for the early November arrival of its first full-time crew.
Along with unloading a Russian cargo ship and moving supplies and equipment from Atlantis into the station, the astronauts also plan to hook up the lab’s toilet, set up its main oxygen generator and activate other critical systems.
Early today, astronauts plan to work 6 1/2 hours outside the station connecting power and data cables.
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