Endeavour commander James Wetherbee flew the shuttle in a "textbook rendez-vous" as it docked with the space station at 4:59 pm (2159 GMT) Monday, despite being 30 minutes behind schedule, NASA official Rob Navias said.

The two space vehicles are currently linked some 397 kilometers (240 miles) above the southeast coast of Australia, NASA said.

US astronaut Peggy Whitson, who is part of the team onboard the orbiting complex, sounded a bell -- part of space station tradition in its short history.

"Great job. We want to welcome Expedition Six to their new home," said a NASA official, his message transmitted to the new team to the ISS, which consists of US commander Kenneth Bowersox, US astronaut Donald Pettit and Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin.

SPACE.WIRE