Endeavour and its six astronauts docked at the orbiting laboratory at 6:14 a.m. EDT (1014 GMT). It will take the crews on both the station and shuttle about two hours to check the seal between their spacecraft for any leaks. They are expected to open the hatches and greet each other at 8:36 a.m. EDT (1236 GMT).
"Endeavour arriving," space station commander Dmitry Kondratyev of Russia said as the shuttle connected with the outpost.
Endeavour made its last liftoff Monday morning, beginning a 16-day mission to orbit. The shuttle will stay at the space station until May 29, when it will undock to begin the trek back to Earth for good. [Photos of Shuttle Endeavour's Final Launch]
Doubling the population
Commander Mark Kelly is leading Endeavour's veteran six-man crew. His crewmates include pilot Greg Johnson, and mission specialists Michael Fincke, Andrew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff, and Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori. [Video: Endeavour's Lift-off into History]
Their addition to the space station will double the outpost's population. Currently living aboard the station with Kondratyev as part of the Expedition 27 mission are flight engineers Ron Garan and Catherine (Cady) Coleman of NASA, European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko.
The station residents were apparently excited to have visitors.
"Yoo Hoo house-guests!" Garan wrote via Twitter on Tuesday.
Busy mission
The main goal of Endeavour's final mission is to deliver an astrophysics experiment called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station. At $2 billion, it's the most expensive science experiment ever flown to the station, and offers the potential to solve numerous cosmic mysteries such as what forms the invisible dark matter thought to pervade the universe.
Endeavour is also packed full of spare supplies, including extra ammonia coolant, antenna systems and parts for the station's Dextre robot, that will help outfit the space station after the shuttles retire.
The shuttle's crew plans four busy spacewalks and a host of intensive robotic arm maneuvers to stow the parts and perform maintenance to the exterior of the station.
The graveyard shift
Endeavour's astronauts are working the overnight shift during their mission.
The crew woke Tuesday evening at 10:56 p.m. (0256 GMT Wednesday) to the song "Drops of Jupiter" by the band Train. The tune was selected for Johnson by his family and radioed up to the shuttle by Mission Control.
"I love that song and I love being in space," Johnson said, thanking his teenage son Matt for the choice, and apologizing for missing his birthday, which is tomorrow. "And I want to say that's a perfect way to start an exciting rendezvous day!"
Backflip in space
The astronauts spent yesterday, their first full day in space, conducting a detailed inspection of their orbiter's heat shield tiles to check for any damage that might have been suffered during launch.
So far, the sensitive tiles appear to be in good shape to protect the shuttle from the fiery heat of re-entry to Earth.
"Preliminary assessment is it looks really good so far," LeRoy Cain, head of Endeavour's mission management team, said in a news briefing Tuesday. "We're not tracking any issues as far as that's concerned."
Another check of the heat shield will be available soon, when Mission Control has a chance to analyze high-resolution photos taken of the shuttle's underbelly as it approached the station.
When Endeavour was about 600 feet (180 meters) below the space station, commander Kelly steered the shuttle through a backflip that exposed the orbiter's heat shield to the station, allowing astronauts there to snap hundreds of detailed images. The operation is called the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver.
Analysis of the photos should be complete in the coming days.
You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz. Visit SPACE.com for complete coverage of Endeavour's final mission STS-134 or follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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