Cape Canaveral: Astronauts used the International space station's robotic arm to examine a spot on the shuttle Discovery's left wing Monday where sensors detected a "very low" impact, NASA officials said.
The shuttle crew traveled two days to reach the space station, where, during a week-long stay, they will continue construction on the orbiting lab and replace one station crew member with another.
The sensor recorded a level of impact not considered worrisome, Shannon said, but managers decided to take a closer look to be safe and perhaps eliminate the need to do a time-consuming focused inspection later in this jam-packed mission.
NASA officials have not determined the significance of the blip, though they don't expect it to affect the mission.
"It looks like something happened," said Chairman of the mission management team, John Shannon, noting that the wing looked fine during a focused inspection performed on Sunday.
The shuttle delivered a two-ton, $11 million cube-shaped addition to the space station, using the shuttle and the station's robotic arms. The addition will be attached to the station during a spacewalk on Tuesday.
To link up with the station, Discovery commander Mark Polansky moved the shuttle a tenth of a foot per second before latches connected it shortly before a sunrise.
Six of Discovery's seven astronauts planned to spend a week at the space station. The seventh astronaut, Sunita "Suni" Williams, will live there for six months, replacing German astronaut Reiter of the European Space Agency.
The two will swap places before the end of the day, making Williams only the third woman in history to reside long-term at the space station.
About an hour before docking, Discovery did a slow back flip so the space station crew could photograph its belly for any signs of liftoff damage.
Polansky executed the maneuver as the shuttle flew about 600 feet beneath the station.
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