NASA-International Space Station

Commander Alan Poindexter and the crew of space shuttle Discovery performed the Terminal Initiation burn at 1:06 a.m. EDT, firing the left Orbital Maneuvering System engine for 10 seconds to steer the shuttle onto the final trail toward the International Space Station.



At 2:42 a.m., Discovery will arrive at a point 600 feet directly below the station. Poindexter will gradually rotate the shuttle through a back flip maneuver to expose the base to Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi, who will use digital cameras equipped with 800 millimeter and 400 millimeter lenses to photograph the heat shield.

The images will be sent to Mission Control for evaluation by descriptions experts and mission managers to determine whether Discovery incurred any damage during Monday’s launch. Docking is expected to occur at 3:44 a.m.