MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Shuttle Endeavour arrived to a warm welcome at the International Space Station early Wednesday, delivering a new room and observation deck that will come close to completing construction 200 miles above Earth.
The midnight rendezvous occurred as the two spacecraft sailed over the Atlantic, just west of Portugal. It took longer than normal to lock the shuttle and station together because of the relative motion between the two. The space station’s five residents filled the time, before their guests came aboard, by trying out camera angles and interviewing one another.
“What are you expecting from the shuttle?” Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi asked Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev. “My cucumbers,” Suraev replied, getting a big laugh.