Arrival Day

Description: Endeavours approach to the station includes a photo session. When the spacecraft is about 600 feet below the station, Ferguson will fly the spacecraft through the rendezvous pitch maneuver. That nine-minute backflip lets the station crew take high resolution photos of the shuttles thermal protection system.Station Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke will use a digital camera with an 800 mm lens and Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff will have a camera with a 400 mm lens. From windows of the stations Zvezda service module they will take as many as 300 photos, which will be analyzed by engineers to make sure the thermal protection system is safe for re-entry.