Approaching the International Space Station
Credit:
STS-106 Crew,
NASA
Last Monday the crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis took in
this view as they approached the developing
International Space Station (ISS).
From top to bottom, the astronauts saw a station
currently consisting of the Progress supply module, the
Zvezda service module, the
Zarya cargo module, and the
Unity connecting module.
Never before had astronauts seen the
station since the remote-controlled additions of Progress and
Zvezda.
Energy collecting flat solar panels can be seen extending from some of the modules.
Soon after this picture was taken, Atlantis docked with the
ISS at the
Unity end.
The astronauts have
worked hard unloading supplies,
installing and testing equipment,
and even planning to reboost the
floating space station
to a higher orbit.
The Shuttle and its entire crew are
scheduled to return to Earth Wednesday.
The
Space Shuttle Discovery is then
scheduled to visit the ISS in two weeks.