Mon, Nov 12, 2007
Almost Ready-To-Go For A Change
Space shuttle Atlantis was moved to
its seaside launch pad on Saturday ahead of a December mission to
get Europe's first permanent space laboratory into orbit, according
to Reuters.
Riding on top of a 3,000-ton Apollo-era crawler transporter,
Atlantis left the Kennedy Space Center's assembly building before
dawn. The 3.8-mile trek took about five hours.
NASA has time to spare in its campaign to prepare the shuttle
for the three-day launch countdown beginning on December 3.
Officials are questioning whether the International Space Station
will be ready for Atlantis' arrival. Astronauts in the ISS will
have to relocate and outfit the newly arrived vestibule that will
anchor Europe's Columbus laboratory and reinstall the shuttle's
docking port.
On Friday, Peggy Whitson and Yuri Malenchenko completed
the first of three planned spacewalks needed before the new module,
named Harmony, can be moved by the station's robotic crane. Harmony
was delivered by the shuttle Discovery crew, which returned to
Earth on Wednesday after a 15-day mission.
"I'm taking it one day at a time," flight director Derek
Hassmann told reporters after the spacewalk, which he called "a
huge step" toward launching Atlantis.
Already waiting at the launch pad for Atlantis was the lab named
Columbus, Europe's primary contribution to the $100 billion,
16-nation space station project. The lab was set to be loaded into
the shuttle's cargo bay last Sunday. Atlantis' crew, which includes
two European astronauts Hans Schlegel of Germany and Leopold
Eyharts of France, is scheduled to arrive in Florida next weekend
for a launch rehearsal.
Eyharts will remain aboard the space station for an abbreviated
two-month mission, replacing Tani, who arrived with the shuttle
Discovery crew on October 25.
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