After a three-month delay, Atlantis is ready to blast off Friday on the first space shuttle mission of the year as Nasa presses on with efforts to finish the International Space Station.
Atlantis was originally scheduled to launch in March, but a freak hail storm damaged the shuttle's massive external fuel tank as the orbiter stood on its Florida launch pad, forcing Nasa to bring it back to its hangar for repairs.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began Tuesday the countdown for Friday's launch, scheduled for 19:38 pm (2338 GMT) at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral on Florida's east coast.
Nasa officials said the shuttle was in tip-top shape, while forecasts gave a 70 percent chance of favourable weather as winds were expected to nudge clouds away to give Atlantis an open sky for the launch.
The seven shuttle astronauts - all American men - arrived in Cape Canaveral Monday evening from their base at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, as they prepare for the 21st shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
"All our systems right now are in great shape - we're tracking no constraints that are show stoppers," Nasa test director Steve Payne told a news briefing on Tuesday.
"Teams are ready and everybody's eager to launch - we're looking forward to a successful assembly mission," he said.
If a technical glitch or nasty weather force a delay, Nasa has until June 12 to launch the shuttle, but Kathy Winters, the launch weather officer, was optimistic on Wednesday.
There was a slight risk of thunderstorms in the area, but they should blow further west and clear by launch time on Friday, she said.
After June 12, Nasa would have to wait a few more days to blast off to allow the launch of a military satellite from the Cape Canaveral military base. Nasa and the Air Force share the same radars to track shuttle and rocket launches.
Atlantis will be the fifth shuttle mission since the Columbia tragedy of February 2003, when the orbiter disintegrated as it re-entered the atmosphere, killing its seven astronauts.
The shuttle returned to space in July 2005 with a Discovery mission focused on making space flight safer. A second safety mission in July last year proved successful, paving the way for the resumption of ISS assembly missions.
After that, Nasa launched two complex construction missions in September and December that the space agency hailed as major successes.
During their 11-day mission, the Atlantis astronauts will install a new, 16-tonne truss segment on the ISS and deliver a third set of solar panels as well as batteries for the orbiting laboratory.
Three spacewalks lasting six and a half hours each are planned on the fourth, sixth and eighth days of the mission.
NASA plans at least 13 shuttle mission to finish the 100-billion-dollar station by 2010, when the US space agency retires its three-shuttle fleet.
The delay of the Atlantis launch forced Nasa to cut back its 2007 shuttle flight program from five to four launches.
After Endeavour and Discovery shuttle missions in August and October, Atlantis will fly back to space in December to deliver Europe's Columbus laboratory, which will be attached to the ISS.
The mission flying Friday is led by Commander Frederick Sturckow, a marine colonel, who will be joined in the cockpit by co-pilot Lee Archambault, an air force colonel.
The crew includes mission specialists James Reilly, Patrick Forrester, Steven Swanson and John Olivas.
The seventh passenger, Clayton Anderson, will stay behind at the ISS while Atlantis brings back to Earth flight engineer Sunita Williams, who has been working in the space station since December.
Source : www.iol.co.za
Atlantis was originally scheduled to launch in March, but a freak hail storm damaged the shuttle's massive external fuel tank as the orbiter stood on its Florida launch pad, forcing Nasa to bring it back to its hangar for repairs.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began Tuesday the countdown for Friday's launch, scheduled for 19:38 pm (2338 GMT) at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral on Florida's east coast.
Nasa officials said the shuttle was in tip-top shape, while forecasts gave a 70 percent chance of favourable weather as winds were expected to nudge clouds away to give Atlantis an open sky for the launch.
The seven shuttle astronauts - all American men - arrived in Cape Canaveral Monday evening from their base at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, as they prepare for the 21st shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
"All our systems right now are in great shape - we're tracking no constraints that are show stoppers," Nasa test director Steve Payne told a news briefing on Tuesday.
"Teams are ready and everybody's eager to launch - we're looking forward to a successful assembly mission," he said.
If a technical glitch or nasty weather force a delay, Nasa has until June 12 to launch the shuttle, but Kathy Winters, the launch weather officer, was optimistic on Wednesday.
There was a slight risk of thunderstorms in the area, but they should blow further west and clear by launch time on Friday, she said.
After June 12, Nasa would have to wait a few more days to blast off to allow the launch of a military satellite from the Cape Canaveral military base. Nasa and the Air Force share the same radars to track shuttle and rocket launches.
Atlantis will be the fifth shuttle mission since the Columbia tragedy of February 2003, when the orbiter disintegrated as it re-entered the atmosphere, killing its seven astronauts.
The shuttle returned to space in July 2005 with a Discovery mission focused on making space flight safer. A second safety mission in July last year proved successful, paving the way for the resumption of ISS assembly missions.
After that, Nasa launched two complex construction missions in September and December that the space agency hailed as major successes.
During their 11-day mission, the Atlantis astronauts will install a new, 16-tonne truss segment on the ISS and deliver a third set of solar panels as well as batteries for the orbiting laboratory.
Three spacewalks lasting six and a half hours each are planned on the fourth, sixth and eighth days of the mission.
NASA plans at least 13 shuttle mission to finish the 100-billion-dollar station by 2010, when the US space agency retires its three-shuttle fleet.
The delay of the Atlantis launch forced Nasa to cut back its 2007 shuttle flight program from five to four launches.
After Endeavour and Discovery shuttle missions in August and October, Atlantis will fly back to space in December to deliver Europe's Columbus laboratory, which will be attached to the ISS.
The mission flying Friday is led by Commander Frederick Sturckow, a marine colonel, who will be joined in the cockpit by co-pilot Lee Archambault, an air force colonel.
The crew includes mission specialists James Reilly, Patrick Forrester, Steven Swanson and John Olivas.
The seventh passenger, Clayton Anderson, will stay behind at the ISS while Atlantis brings back to Earth flight engineer Sunita Williams, who has been working in the space station since December.
Source : www.iol.co.za
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