July 14, 2001

 Space shuttle Atlantis docks with space station

 By Marcia Dunn
 Associated Press

 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis docked with the
 international space station late Friday night, delivering a new $164
 million passageway for spacewalkers.

 The two craft linked up high above South America, ending a chase of
 nearly two days.

 The space station residents, in orbit since March, were eager to greet
 their latest guests and kept tabs on the shuttle's slow, deliberate
 approach.

 "Better put the hot dogs on the burner for them," Mission Control told
 space station astronaut Jim Voss as Atlantis pulled within six miles.

 "Yeah, we're sweeping off the porch right now," Voss replied.

 When the shuttle got within 500 feet, Voss urged the shuttle crew to
 smile for the space station cameras.

 "We're all smiling down here," replied shuttle commander Steven Lindsey.
 He guided Atlantis in for the 230-mile-high docking a little late, taking
 extra time to line up the spacecraft as perfectly as possible.

 The eight space travelers - five on Atlantis and three on space station
 Alpha - will work together to install the new air lock, beginning this
 weekend.

 The pressurized chamber will be used by astronauts and cosmonauts as a
 spacewalk dressing room and a portal into the vacuum of space.

 The air lock is more than 13,000 pounds of aluminum shaped like a squat
 water tower. Once it is hooked to the space station, four tanks of
 high-pressure gas, each weighing 1,200 pounds, will be attached.

 Both robot arms, the one on Atlantis and the even bigger one on Alpha,
 will be needed for the installation. Astronauts Michael Gernhardt and
 James Reilly II will make three spacewalks to hook up the equipment.

 The air lock will enable American astronauts living aboard the station to
 wear their own suits during spacewalks. U.S. spacesuits are incompatible
 with the Russian-made systems on the station.

 NASA is confident the space station robot arm will work even though it
 ran into start-up problems following its installation in April. Among
 other things, its shoulder joint was hampered by bad computer hardware.

 Fixing the problems forced a one-month delay in Atlantis' flight.

 The shuttle will remain docked at Alpha for a full week.