Smiles all round as shuttledocks

THE smiling astronauts of the space shuttle Discovery entered the international space station yesterday to deliver a German crew member, the first European to work on the orbiting platform.

After the hatches opened, American astronaut Jeff Williams, who has been living aboard the space station since March 31, told ground controllers that he hasn’t seen a frown in three months.

But then it was down to the business of safety training for Discovery’s seven astronauts, who had to learn how to deal with station emergencies as part of protocol.

Discovery docked with the international space station yesterday morning and then the two ships opened their hatches about 100 minutes later.

Discovery delivered German astronaut Thomas Reiter, who will bring the orbiting complex’s crew to three for the first time in three years.

An hour before the docking, Discovery commander Steve Lindsey manually flipped the spacecraft so the space station’s crew could photograph its belly for any signs of damage.

The space station’s two residents, Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams, planned to transmit the digital images back to Houston, where mission managers and engineers would study them.

An inspection on Wednesday by Discovery’s crew using cameras attached to a 50-foot boom revealed no major damage from the launch.