Click to play videoNew Delhi: Space shuttle Discovery docked at the international space station, delivering a mammoth lab and a NASA astronaut.
The shuttle performed a slow back flip while soaring 340 kilometres above the south Pacific. Discovery also carried Japan's 11-metre-long Kibo lab.
The seven shuttle astronauts and three station residents will combine forces to install the lab on Tuesday. The shuttle crew has also brought a much-needed spare toilet pump for the orbiting outpost.
The station's Russian-built toilet broke nearly two weeks ago forcing the crew to perform manual flushes with extra water several times a day.
Imagery experts will now pore over the digital pictures — as well as the multitude of images from Saturday's launch — to see whether Discovery is in good enough shape to re-enter safely on June 14.
About five pieces of foam insulation broke off the external fuel tank during liftoff, and one or two of them may have hit the shuttle. But the pieces, it's believed, came off too late in the launch to do any damage.
NASA, meanwhile, has formed an investigation team to figure out why the launch pad sustained so much damage during Discovery's liftoff — far worse than usual.
A large section of the flame trench — 20 feet by 100 feet — broke apart, and chunks of the large heat-resistant firebricks were scattered all the way out to the fence 1,800 feet away, possibly even farther.
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