WASHINGTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station at 3:36 p.m. EDT (1936GMT) on Sunday, ending a nearly-two-day chase, according to NASA TV.

The hatches between the two spacecraft will open at about 5:00 p.m., and then the two crews will greet each other and quickly begin joint operations.

One of the first major tasks is the station crew rotation. Atlantis mission specialist Clayton Anderson will switch places with Expedition 15 flight engineer Sunita Williams, who will be wrapping up a six-month tour of duty as an Expedition crew member. Anderson is scheduled to stay on the station until he returns to Earth with another space shuttle later this year.

About an hour before docking, Commander Frederick Sturckow and Pilot Lee Archambault guided the shuttle through a back-flip maneuver that allowed the Expedition 15 crew inside the ISS to photograph the shuttle's protective heat-resistant tiles. The imagery will be sent to engineers on Earth for analysis.

NASA said Atlantis' arrival will set the stage for next phase of the station's on-orbit construction. After the rendezvous, preparations will begin immediately for Monday's installation of the new truss segment and the first of three scheduled spacewalks.

During Saturday's inspection of Atlantis' heat shield, a 4-inch(10-cm) gap was reported, and NASA engineers keep studying photos of the tear. "It's not a great deal of concern right now, but there's a lot of work to be done," John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team, said of the gap. "Other than that, the vehicle is very clean."

The mission, designated STS-117, is the 21st shuttle mission to visit the station. Atlantis is scheduled to undock June 17 and return to Earth on June 19.