Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

The crew of the space shuttle Endeavour will begin its visit to the International Space Station this afternoon. Rendezvous operations start at 7:30 a.m.

The crew, Commander Scott Kelly, Pilot Charles Hobaugh, and Mission Specialists Tracy Caldwell, Rick Mastracchio, Dave Williams, Barbara Morgan and Alvin Drew, was awakened at 6:36 a.m. by “Mr. Blue Sky,” performed by Electric Light Orchestra. It was played for Kelly.

The final phase of the rendezvous is to begin at 10:14 a.m. with the terminal initiation burn. A little before noon, Kelly will pilot Endeavour through a backflip about 600 feet below the station to enable its crewmembers to photograph the thermal protection tiles on the shuttle’s belly.

Next Kelly will fly the orbiter to a point about 400 feet ahead of the station, then slowly to a docking at about 12:53 p.m. Even before hatches are opened between the two vehicles, the shuttle’s robotic arm will grapple the S5 truss in preparation for its handoff to the station arm and installation on Saturday.

Hatch opening is scheduled for 2:21 p.m. The station crew, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineers Oleg Kotov and Clay Anderson, will formally welcome their seven guests at a ceremony just after 3 p.m.

Transfer of equipment and supplies to the station will begin a little after 5 p.m. A review of procedures for the mission’s first spacewalk starts about 6:20 p.m. Spacewalkers Mastracchio and Williams will begin a campout in the Quest airlock about 9 p.m. to prepare for the Saturday spacewalk to install S5.

Three spacewalks are scheduled. A fourth could be done if the Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System, to be activated a little before 5 p.m., functions as expected, allowing Endeavour to extend its stay at the station.

The next status report will be issued Friday afternoon or earlier if events warrant.

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