WASHINGTON, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - The crews of the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station have met, a NASA spokesman said Monday.

He said the meeting took place after some initial delay, required to normalize pressure and verify containment.

NASA said earlier the shuttle docked with the ISS at 2.48 p.m. Moscow time (10.48 a.m. GMT) above the southeastern Pacific.

The two crews are expected to start preparations for a spacewalk and technical operations soon.

Atlantis was launched Saturday following two weeks of delays caused by storms and technical malfunctions.

The shuttle brought to the ISS the new P3/P4 truss, which is used to connect different sections of the station, and a new set of solar arrays. Once the truss is attached, the crew will conduct three spacewalks to outfit and prepare the truss and arrays for operation.