Atlantis shuttle astronauts welcomed on space station

THE crew of the international space station welcomed Atlantis’ six astronauts on board yesterday after the space shuttle arrived carrying the first new addition for the orbiting laboratory in more than three years.

The hatch between two orbiting spacecraft was opened more than one hour after Atlantis commander Brent Jett eased the space shuttle into the station’s docking port at 11.48am Irish time.

The shuttle’s near two-day trip from Earth ended as the two vehicles were passing about 350 kilometres above the south-eastern part of the Pacific Ocean.