It was a big sigh of relief for the US space agency NASA when its much hyped space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station safely and successfully. NASA reported that the space shuttle Discovery, carrying a crew of seven astronauts, docked with the ISS when they were flying over Western Australia.

According to NASA, the Discovery docked with the ISS at about 2120 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) or 5:20 pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) Tuesday afternoon. The hatches between the ISS and the Discovery opened at about 7 p.m. EDT, and later there was a traditional welcoming ceremony at ISS.

"Welcome to the space station, Discovery. We're glad you're here," the ISS crew said to the space shuttle Discovery crew.

The Discovery crew delivered a final pair of solar wing panels and a new water recycling system at the ISS. The docking of the space shuttle Discovery took place only 14 hours after a potentially lethal piece of space debris zoomed past dangerously close to the International Space Station. The space debris passed close to the ISS at 3:14 a.m. Eastern Time, but it quite far away from the Discovery, and so posed no threat to the space shuttle.

The shuttle crew will work with the ISS astronauts for the next 8 days. The shuttle crew will also take 3 space walks. Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese astronaut, will stay and work at the ISS, while rest of the shuttle crew will fly back to earth after finishing the eight-day mission.

Meanwhile, another interesting news associated with the space shuttle Discovery came up yesterday. According to a report, a bat was seen clinging to the external fuel tank of the Space Shuttle, before its launch on Sunday. Where did the bat go? Did it make it into space? No one knows about it. The Flight director Paul Dye said, "I heard that it was clinging to the tank at liftoff, but I don't think anyone has seen it since."