Space first: Two female commanders

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery and the international space station joined forces Thursday, linking their ships.

History was made with the 215-mile-high linkup: It was the first time two female commanders met in space.

Retired Air Force Col. Pamela Melroy steered Discovery in for the docking and was the first to enter the space station. She was embraced by Peggy Whitson, the station’s skipper.

Right before the two spacecraft hooked up, Melroy guided Discovery through a 360-degree backflip so the station crew could photograph the entire shuttle. The pictures were hurriedly beamed down so NASA could determine whether Discovery’s belly sustained any launch damage from ice or insulating foam from the fuel tank.

The small patch of ice that shook loose from fuel tank plumbing at the moment of liftoff Tuesday ended up grazing the fuel-feedline hatch on the bottom of the shuttle. John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team, likened it to an ice cube falling 10 inches and said the hatch was unharmed. In fact, Shannon said most if not all of the shuttle’s thermal shielding looks to be in good shape. Unless something new pops up, engineers see no need for additional shuttle inspections.