Spaceflight

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter has boarded the International Space Station (ISS) for a six-month mission after an ascent on Space Shuttle Discovery, restoring the ISS to its three-crew configuration. The ISS crew was reduced to two after Shuttle Columbia’s 2003 re-entry disintegration saw orbiter flights stood down for two years until Discovery’s July 2005 return to flight. Discovery’s launch on 4 July did not appear to suffer the foam debris impact that led to the loss of the Columbia.