HOUSTON — Space shuttle Discovery maneuvered toward a rendezvous with the international space station today, preparing to embark on the most challenging construction work ever attempted in a single mission.

The historic meetup of the first two spacecraft simultaneously commanded by women will give NASA engineers another chance to search for damage to the shuttle’s heat shield, the same type of problem that doomed Columbia in 2003.

“We can’t wait to see you,” Discovery Commander Pamela Melroy said.

“We’re looking forward to it,” astronaut Clayton Anderson replied from the space station.

NASA engineers didn’t spot anything significant in a preliminary look at images captured during yesterday’s meticulous examination of Discovery’s nose and wings, the head of the mission management team, John Shannon, said.

But officials will need even more data and analyses before they can be sure the shuttle’s thermal shielding made it through the launch damage-free.

Today, Ms. Melroy was scheduled to guide Discovery slowly toward the space station until the spacecraft are separated by 600 feet. Then Discovery will make a giant backflip so station crew members can zoom in for pictures of its belly and send them to Houston for analysis.

Photos taken during Endeavour’s pre-docking backflip in August allowed engineers to spot a worrisome gouge in that ship’s belly. The shuttle landed safely after several days of debate over whether in-flight repairs were needed.

Once Ms. Melroy completes Discovery’s backflip, the shuttle will snuggle up and connect with the space station, while both vessels travel at 17,500 miles an hour. She will be greeted by the first woman to be in charge of a space station, Peggy Whitson.

Inspections like the one yesterday became standard procedure after a piece of foam broke off Columbia’s external fuel tank during liftoff and gashed a wing, allowing hot gases to penetrate the spacecraft during its return to Earth. The shuttle disintegrated, killing all seven astronauts aboard.