Discovery docks with space station

After a two-day journey, the shuttle Discovery reached the international space station Monday for a weeklong stay to continue construction on the orbiting lab and rotate out a crew member.

Upon arriving, crews prepared to examine the outer side of the shuttle's left wing, where sensors detected a "very low" impact, a NASA official said.

"Overnight one of those sensors detected an impact, albeit very low," said NASA spokesman Kyle Herring. He said that sensors sometimes falsely detect objects impacting the spacecraft but that "the timeline permits for an early look in that particular area, so that's the desire and the decision by the teams here on the ground."

Earlier, Discovery commander Mark Polansky closed in on the station at a tenth of a foot per second before latches automatically linked the spacecraft shortly before a sunrise.

"Space shuttle Discovery arriving," space station resident Michael Lopez-Alegria told Mission Control in Houston at 6:54 p.m. EST as the hatch between the two spacecraft opened to the traditional ringing of a bell.

Televised images from the orbiting space lab showed Bob Curbeam, due to perform three spacewalks, bouncing over two hugging astronauts to shake the hand of space station resident Thomas Reiter, who will return to Earth with the shuttle crew. Christer Fuglesang, now the first Swede in space, spoke into a videocamera, then let it float away.

Eventually the two crews gathered for a group shot, all smiles and with some ponytails floating, as they flew 220 miles above Australia.

"You guys all look great," Mission Control radioed up. "We're waving back."

Six of Discovery's seven astronauts planned to spend a week at the space station. The seventh astronaut, Sunita "Suni" Williams, will live there for six months, replacing German astronaut Reiter of the European Space Agency.

The two will swap places before the end of the day, making Williams only the third woman in history to reside long-term at the space station.

About an hour before docking, Discovery did a slow back flip so the space station crew could photograph its belly for any signs of liftoff damage.

Polansky executed the maneuver as the shuttle flew about 600 feet beneath the station.

The space agency has been especially alert to damage to the shuttle's heat shield since the Columbia tragedy in 2003. A piece of foam broke off Columbia's external fuel tank during liftoff and gashed a wing, allowing hot gases to penetrate the spacecraft during its return to Earth. All seven astronauts died.

NASA on said Sunday that the shuttle's heat shield appeared to be in good shape, but that it will be a few days before engineers can rule out any damage from Saturday's liftoff, the first nighttime shuttle launch in four years.

Discovery was carrying a 2-ton addition to the space station.

The $11 million component will be put into place on Tuesday during the first of the mission's three spacewalks. Astronauts also plan to rewire the space lab, switching it from a temporary source to a permanent one, during the two other spacewalks.

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Associated Press writer Rasha Madkour in Houston contributed to this report.

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