Shuttle Endeavour closes in for station linkup

Space shuttle Endeavour closed in for a 220-mile-high linkup with the international space station on Sunday, hauling gear for a huge home makeover that will allow twice as many astronauts to live up there beginning next year.

“It’s a big day here today for the international space station,” said Mike Fincke, the station’s skipper.

Endeavour’s commander, Christopher Ferguson, got some good news as he prepared for the final stage of the rendezvous. The shuttle’s main radio antenna was working fine as a radar navigation device, despite earlier trouble.

Before steering Endeavour toward a late-afternoon docking, Ferguson had to guide it through a 360-degree backflip so Fincke and another space station resident could take zoom-in digital pictures of the approaching shuttle. The images – as many as 300 – will help NASA determine whether Endeavour sustained any damage during liftoff Friday night.

At least two pieces of debris were spotted so far in launch pictures.