Shuttle Atlantis Arrives at Space Station

Jun 10, 05:13 PM

Current Headlines: The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis arrived at the international space station Sunday for a swap of astronauts and delivery of new parts for the station.

The Atlantis crew and the station's crew would have to conduct pressure and leak checks before they could open the hatches connecting the two spacecraft, said a news release on NASA's Web site.

During the mission, Mission Specialist Clayton Anderson will be switching places with Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Suni Williams, who has been on the station for six months. Anderson will remain on the orbiting space station until another shuttle mission later this year.

Both crews will be involved in the preparations to install two truss segments containing new solar arrays, as well as the first of three space walks Monday.

Atlantis winds up the 21st shuttle mission to the space station June 17 and return to Earth June 19, NASA said.