André wrote:
Because the shuttle is moving slightly (rocking back-and-forth, after
docking) opposed to the ISS.
This can cause the seal to leak, so the crew must be very sure the seal
is good, and the orbiter does not move any more.


Lets say this were an emergency of biblical proportions. What would happen
if they were to complete the docking before all motion has been dampened ?

Considering that the PMA hardware is capable of suppporting Shuttle
performing atitude control and reboosts, would the PMA/docking aparatus
really be damaged if there were to complete the hard dock without waiting
an eternity ?

And once the hard dock is complete, can there still be any residual
movement ? Once docked, doesn't the shuttle form a single unit with the
station with relative motion between the two basically 0 ?

Does NASA have "emergency docking" procedures where wait times are
dramatically reduced to a bare minimum ?

For a stay of roughly a week, waiting an extra hour or two to be 300% sure
is not a big thing. But how long would it really take to just be safe ?