When shuttle Discovery arrives at the International Space Station, it will find most of the parking spots already taken.
A European freighter is due to arrive Thursday, joining Japanese and Russian cargo ships and two Soyuz crew capsules.
Discovery, which is slated for liftoff at 4:50 p.m. EST Thursday, is due to arrive Saturday for a week-long stay. With only two more flights expected to follow, NASA wants to take advantage of the gathering to take a family picture.
"This is what the ISS was meant to be -- a truly international orbiting laboratory," said Steve Payne, a NASA test director at the Kennedy Space Center. "We're going to try to photograph all the vehicles out there at the same time, get a family picture and see some interesting imagery we've never seen of the space station before."
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If approved, station commander Scott Kelly and cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka would climb aboard one of the Soyuz capsules with digital cameras and a high-definition camcorder for a 75-minute ride around the sprawling complex.
There are technical hurdles that have to be cleared and NASA would need to extend Discovery's planned 11-day mission a day, but if the stars align it could be the photo op of the year.
(The International Space Station as photographed by the last shuttle crew in May 2010. Credit: NASA)
Tags: Space Shuttle, Space Station
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