INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION GREETS DISCOVERY CREW








MOSCOW, MARCH 10, 2001. /RIA NOVOSTI/ -- The Discovery shuttle docked to the international orbital station, and the crews met in the Russian Zvezda (Star) service unit.


	The international station now weighs 221.5 tonnes and consists of the Russian Progress M44 cargo ship, the Russian Zvezda and Zarya (Dawn) cargo unit, the manned ship Soyuz TM31, also Russian, the USA's Unity and Destiny units, and the Discovery. The equipment and gadgetry are performing without a hitch, reports the Russian Energia space rocket corporation.


	There are ten on board the station--its crew of three and seven from the Discovery--the Russian Yuri Usachev, station crew commander, and NASA astronauts James Weatherby, shuttle commander, pilot James Kelly, and experts Andrew Thomas, Paul Richards, James Voss and Susan Helms.


	The docking went off well and finished on schedule, 9.38, Moscow time, with all locks shut smoothly, says Carlos Fontanot, NASA spokesman at the Russian flight control centre.


	The shuttle brought to the station all cargoes necessary to fully equip it. The freight was for a first time put into the Leonardo container, manufactured by the Italian Space Agency.


	As the NASA spokesman greeted a good start of the Discovery expedition to the station, he pointed out, however, radio communication unsteady in certain parts of the orbit. It will improve after a communication satellite is launched in a month, and the station will be attainable at any point and in any time, said the American expert.