Shuttle Discovery docks at space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Discovery performed a slow back flip and then docked at the international space station Monday, delivering a mammoth lab and two new occupants: a NASA astronaut and Buzz Lightyear.

Back at the launch site, meanwhile, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration hurriedly set up an investigation to figure out why the launchpad suffered its worst damage in 27 years of space-shuttle flight. Bricks and mortar flew off the pad during Discovery's liftoff Saturday.

Discovery was not struck by any of the debris — engineers pored over the launch pictures to be sure of that, said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission-management team. When asked by a reporter if NASA got lucky in that regard, he said: "I don't like to think in terms of luck."

Commander Mark Kelly pulled up to the space station and parked as the two spacecraft soared 210 miles above the South Pacific.

Discovery carried Japan's prized Kibo lab, a 37-foot-long, 16-ton scientific workshop. The seven shuttle astronauts and three station residents will combine forces to install the bus-size lab today.

The shuttle crew also brought a spare toilet pump for the orbiting outpost. The space station's Russian-built toilet broke nearly two weeks ago — forcing the crew to perform manual flushes with extra water several times a day — and engineers hope the new pump will take care of the problem.

Astronaut Gregory Chamitoff got his first look at what will be his home for the next six months. He is replacing Garrett Reisman, who has been living at the station since March.

"Garrett, you have a beautiful house," Chamitoff said. "Oh my God, it's so beautiful."

The two men hugged once the hatches between them swung open. It was a group embrace, actually, with the space station's two Russian residents joining in as well.

Also moving in for a half-year is a 12-inch action figure familiar to children almost everywhere: Buzz Lightyear, the character from the 1995 film "Toy Story" that's always yearning to blast off "to infinity and beyond." Disney sent up the toy as part of NASA's toys-in-space educational program.

Right before linking up with the space station, Kelly guided Discovery through a 360-degree somersault from 600 feet out, allowing Reisman and one of the space station's Russian residents to take zoom-in photos of the shuttle's belly. The back flip became standard procedure for shuttle flights after the 2003 Columbia tragedy; Columbia was brought down by a hole in the wing, left there by flyaway fuel-tank foam.

Imagery experts will pore over these 302 digital pictures — as well as the multitude of launch images — to see whether Discovery is in good enough shape to re-enter safely on June 14.

As for the launchpad damage, the worst of it, by far, was in the brick-lined trench that is designed to deflect the flames at booster-rocket ignition.

A large section of the flame trench — 20 feet by 75 feet — broke apart, and chunks of the large heat-resistant fire bricks and concrete mortar were scattered all the way past the chain-link fence 1,800 feet away. The fence was damaged in places.

The pieces of debris ranged in size from a pebble to entire bricks.

The flame trench — dating back to the 60s Apollo era — is inspected regularly and undergoes periodic repair, Cain said. "Something happened specific to this mission," he said.