Atlantis docks with space station

Shuttle Atlantis has finally docked with the international space station for the first time in three years.
The shuttle carrying six astronauts took off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Saturday, and is currently docked 218km (349 miles) above Earth.

Atlantis commander Brent Jett had earlier manoeuvered the spacecraft into a 360-degree pitch so that the space station's three-man crew could photograph images of the shuttle's belly and transmit them to Nasa engineers, who will look for any damage from liftoff to the spacecraft's thermal skin.

The shuttle brought to the ISS the new P3/P4 truss, which is used to connect different sections of the station, and a new set of solar arrays. Once the truss is attached, the crew will conduct three spacewalks to outfit and prepare the truss and arrays for operation.

The crew is currently preparing to install a 15,880kg (35,000lb) truss for attachment to the space station.
The crew will have to install two large solar energy panels connected to the truss to provide electricity to the station.