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On a mission to bring the International Space Station to full power, space shuttle Discovery lifted off March 15 from

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NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, 
beginning the first shuttle mission of 2009.

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Once in space, Commander Lee Archambault, Pilot Tony Antonelli and the rest of the crew got to work as they

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inspected Discovery using the robotic arm and  the orbiter boom sensor system extension.

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During the second full day of the mission, the shuttle rendezvoused with the space station.

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As the hatch opened, the two crews greeted each other and delivered the newest 
member to join the station crew,

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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 
astronaut Koichi Wakata.

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Wakata's arrival signaled the end of station Flight Engineer Sandy Magnus'

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stay aboard the station as she prepared to 
return to Earth aboard Discovery.

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The station?s robotic arm maneuvered the 31,000-pound, 45-foot-long truss segment to a position overnight to

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await the start of the first spacewalk by 
Mission Specialists Steve Swanson and 
Ricky Arnold.

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After spending the night in the station?s Quest airlock, the spacewalkers got to work outside the station.

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Inside, shuttle Mission Specialist John Phillips and Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata remotely

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controlled the station's robotic arm holding the S6 truss, placing it into position.

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Swanson and Arnold immediately went to work bolting the segment in place, connecting the power and data

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cables, which allowed station flight controllers to remotely command the segment to life.

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The successful installation paved the way for extending the S6's two solar wings the 
following day.

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The two-stage extension took less than an hour for each as the panels unfurled,

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extending the pair to their full combined 
length of 240 feet.

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Work inside the station continued as the station's Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Mission

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Specialist Sandy Magnus turned their 
attention to the replacement of a failed 
distillation unit.

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The unit is part of the elaborate water purification and recycling system on

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the station that helps set the stage for 
increasing the station's crew size from three 
to six.

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The newly installed unit was successfully tested later in the mission.

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The mission's second spacewalk that teamed Swanson with Joe Acaba, and third by Acaba and Arnold, prepared

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the station for future work, including shuttle 
Endeavour's STS-127 mission. March 24 
brought a call from the White House,

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as President Barack Obama spoke to the two crews about their mission.

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With all the work done, the crew members of both the station and shuttle prepared for undocking,

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which was followed by a final inspection of 
Discovery's exterior.

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The shuttle was given the "go" to prepare for landing in Florida on March 28.

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Although weather caused mission managers to wave off the first landing attempt,

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Discovery glided home safely at 3:14 p.m. 
EDT after traveling 5.3 million miles,

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ending a successful mission that paves the way for a six-member station crew.

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