U.S. space shuttle Discovery arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday with food, equipment and new lab gear for the orbital outpost, Reuters reported.
After nearly two days of traveling following its launch late Friday night, Discovery reached the Space Station at 8:54 p.m. EDT (0054 GMT Monday) as it sailed 225 miles (362 km) over the Atlantic.
"The entire rendezvous and docking was smooth as silk," said NASA mission commentator Rob Navias.
During their nine-day visit, the Discovery astronauts plan to unload more than seven tons of gear packed aboard the shuttle and conduct three spacewalks to help ready the $100 billion outpost for full-time science operations.
NASA hopes to complete the station, a $100 billion project of 16 countries, by the end of next year after six more shuttle flights. Construction began in December 1998.
The first spacewalk, scheduled for Tuesday, will be to replace a tank of ammonia coolant and retrieve two European science experiments that will be coming back to Earth for analysis.
Nicole Stott, a rookie astronaut who will be transferring to the station crew, will perform the spacewalk together with astronaut Danny Olivas.
Stott is the last station crewmember to launch aboard the shuttle. NASA is turning over station crew transport to Russia while it studies proposals from aspiring U.S. commercial carriers.
Discovery's cargo includes new laboratory gear for science experiments and a second freezer to store samples until they can be transported back to Earth.
Also aboard is a $5 million treadmill named after Comedy Central television host Stephen Colbert, who won naming rights to the station's final module after fans swarmed a NASA publicity campaign.
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