Atlantis astronauts close in on space station

Astronauts on Atlantis spent their first full day in orbit checking their ship for any launch damage as they steered closer to the international space station.

The shuttle was brimming with birthday presents for the station’s scientific skipper, Peggy Whitson, including a two billion dollar (£1 billion) European lab that she will help set up and several kinds of spicy salsas.

Atlantis is due at the space station today, Ms Whitson’s 48th birthday.

“My present is a new module that we’re going to install on board the station,” Ms Whitson, a biochemist, said in a broadcast interview.

She put in a special request for different kinds of sauces to spice up the space station food. “It gets a little old after being here for several months,” she explained.

Her roommate, Daniel Tani, who turned 47 last week, could not wait to get some fresh shirts. He ended up spending two extra months aboard the orbiting complex after fuel gauge problems grounded Atlantis, his ride home.

As the shuttle drew closer with every circling of Earth, the seven-man crew inspected its wings and nose for any sign of launch damage, using a 100-foot laser-tipped boom. The images were beamed down to Earth for analysis by engineers; a quick look revealed nothing amiss.

Some pieces of insulating foam fell off the external tank three times during lift-off yesterday, 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 lacked enough force to do any damage, he said.

The laser inspections have been standard procedure ever since Nasa’s space shuttles resumed flying in 2005 following the Columbia disaster. Also mandatory are shuttle somersaults right before docking, so the space station crew can photograph every inch of the ship’s thermal shielding.