In this photo , taken by an STS 135 mission crew member from inside the cabin, Atlantis is about to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on the third day of NASA's final space shuttle mission.
NASA
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In this photo, taken by an STS 135 mission crew member from inside the cabin, Atlantis is about to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on the third day of NASA's final space shuttle mission.
Atlantis's payload bay and docking mechanism are in the foreground. The robotic arm, built in Canada, is visible in the upper right corner. Its reach is extended by a boom that has been added since the Columbia disaster to enable astronauts to inspect the shuttle's reentry tiles for damage.
NASA released this image on July 12, while ISS Expedition 28 flight engineers Mike Fossum and Ron Garan were just beginning the mission's only planned spacewalk. They successfully retrieved a faulty ammonia pump and packed it into Atlantis's cargo bay for examination and refurbishment back on Earth. They also installed components of a new experiment designed to demonstrate satellite refuel and repair in space. The spacewalk lasted six hours and 31 minutes.
-- Lauren F. Friedman
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