It's taken far too long, and cost far more than it's worth, but it's definitely progress.

We used to have a concept back in the eighties at Rockwell called Extended-Duration Orbiter (EDO) in which we'd pack extra fuel cells in the payload bay to extend the mission length of a Shuttle flight, because electrical power (provided by fuel cells, which had finite propellants) was the initial tallest pole in the tent to allowing longer missions.

Now that the station finally has surplus power with the last installation of solar panels, it can provide some to the Shuttle to allow an extended stay there.

Interesting. So I guess they had the batteries to make it through the night before, but just not the juice to fully charge them while the shuttle was attached drawing power?

Once the Shuttle is retired, I wonder how long it will take for the Russians to refuse flights of US astronauts to the station when there's some diplomatic blow up between Putin and whomever is in the White House?

We'll know about the "president Putin for life" problem well before the Shuttle is retired.