Shuttle Discovery docks with space station
Published: Feb. 26, 2011 at 11:02 PM
HOUSTON, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. space shuttle Discovery successfully docked with the International Space Station Saturday, NASA said.
Commander Steve Lindsey performed the maneuver at 2:14 p.m. EST, while the two spacecraft were orbiting 220 miles above western Australia.
It was Discovery's 13th and final hookup with the space station.
The hatches were set to open about 4:18 p.m., NASA said, and Discovery's crew of Lindsey, pilot Eric Boe, and mission specialists Alvin Drew, Steve Bowen, Mike Barratt and Nicole Stott will join space station commander Scott Kelly, and crew members Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri, Dmitry Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli and Cady Coleman.
The rendezvous finishes the roundup of all the spacecraft that fly to the station, with Russia's Soyuz and Progress, Japan's HTV and Europe's ATV already docked there, Florida Today reported.
Fittingly, the astronauts got "Woody's Roundup" by Riders in the Sky, a Western song from the movie "Toy Story," for their 6:53 a.m. wake-up call.
The , flying the  mission, has successfully rendezvoused and docked with the International Space Station (ISS) today at 18:14 UTC for what is scheduled to be the final time in its career.

The  ''(pictured docked to ISS)'' has docked with the International Space Station for what is scheduled to be the final time on the  mission today. 
Official STS-133 crew portrait. From left to right: Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott, Eric Boe, Steven Lindsey, Michael Barratt and Steve Bowen 

''Discovery'' is delivering six astronauts to the orbiting outpost, as well as station parts and supplies including the , the  and , the first dexterous humanoid robot in space.

The docking, ''Discovery'''s 13th and final scheduled docking, occurred two minutes ahead of schedule, having been originally scheduled for 19:16 GMT today.

The hatch between the space shuttle and the ISS was opened at 20:16 UTC, after which the crew members of  welcomed the crew of STS-133 aboard the station. The crew then participated in a safety briefing with Expedition 26 commander , while Shuttle Flight Director Bryan Lunney took part in a mission status briefing on the ground which began at 20:50 UTC.

Later on today, crew members  and  are scheduled to move the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier-4 from the payload bay using the shuttle's robotic arm to the station's own robot arm for placement on the exterior of the orbital laboratory.

There was a delay in the docking mechanism's ability to make a seal between the two spacecraft during docking operations, so activities occurring later on in the day, including the transfer of ELC-4, may be delayed. This was primarily because of a mis-alignment between the docking systems of the shuttle and station due to gravitational effects. The entire delay took up approximately 40 minutes.

During ''Discovery'''s approach to the station earlier on today, the crew of Expedition 26 took pictures of the shuttle's underside from the station's windows in order to assist in analysis of the heat shield of the spacecraft.

NASA officials are debating whether or not to extend the mission an additional day for a photo shoot of the International Space Station, as it is currently host to six docked spacecraft from the United States, Russia, Europe, and Japan. A decision regarding this possibility is expected on Tuesday.

STS-133 is Space Shuttle ''Discovery'''s 39th and final scheduled mission into space and the program's 35th mission to the ISS, as well as the 133rd in the entire . There are two flights remaining before the retirement of the fleet that are still in planning:  and .