Once complete,the space station will sport four wing-like solar arrays, weigh a whopping onemillion pounds and rival a five-bedroom home in living space, NASA officialshave said. It is really the purposefor what we are here for." "We'reflying the shuttle for a purpose, to carry a payload, to create this marvelousresearch outpost that we have a toehold in space. "Clearly weare into the heart of the assembly of the International Space Station," saidWayne Hale, NASA's space shuttle program manager, of the STS-115 mission,adding that its refreshing to once more engage in orbital construction. The first ISS module,Russia's Zarya,launched in 1998, with the last major addition arriving during NASA's STS-113mission aboard Endeavour in late 2002. The $371.8million cargo aboard Atlantis is the first of many elements - among themadditional power segments, Russian modules and internationallaboratories - slated to launch toward the ISS. "This isprobably one of the busiest first five days we've done in a very long time,"John McCullogh, the lead ISS flight director for Atlantis' mission, told. A heat shield inspection is set for tomorrow, followed by a Mondaydocking at the ISS and back-to-back spacewalks. 6 launch attempt, but was not in violation of any flight rules.Ī busymission lies ahead for STS-115 astronauts, beginning with orbital photographyof Atlantis' external tank - shed after reaching orbit - as it fell back towardEarth. The fuel cell issue led shuttle officials to scruba Sept. Otherdelays were prompted by a lightningstrike to the shuttle's launch pad, weather threats from a tropicaldepression and a powerglitch in a pump motor that helps cool one of the spacecraft's three vitalfuel cells. That sensor worked perfectly duringtoday's liftoff, NASA officials said.
#Atlantis liftoff series
Today'sliftoff comes after a series of delays for Atlantis, the last of whichculminated in the failure Friday of one of four liquid hydrogen fuel gaugesensors in the orbiter's external tank.
The successfulspace shot marked the 116 th shuttle launch for NASA and Atlantis' 27 thtrip into Earth orbit. "We're confident that over the next few weeks, and few years for that matter, NASA is going to prove to our nation, our partners and our friends around the worth that it was worth the wait and the sacrifice," Jett said of resuming ISS construction.Īboard theISS, Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineers JeffreyWilliams and Thomas Reiter are awaiting the shuttle's arrival. The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral with five crew members aboard.Shuttlepilot ChrisFerguson and mission specialists JosephTanner, DanielBurbank, HeidemarieStefanyshyn-Piper and StevenMacLean - of the Canadian Space Agency - rode Atlantis into orbit withJett.Ītlantis' astronautcrew are hauling a 17.5-tonload of trusses and wing-like solar arrays to the ISS to mark NASA's firstISS construction flight since the 2003Columbia accident. The footage of the shuttle was provided by NASA television, and the radio conversations between ground control and the shuttle accompany the video. The countdown and liftoff of the shuttle were perfect.
During the flight, the crew members were also planning to test several types of equipment designed to move future astronauts around in space during work on a space station. The shuttle was on a mission to release the 17-ton Gamma Ray Observatory, a $600 million astronomy satellite designed to collect information on gamma rays, radiations which can only be detected above the Earth’s atmosphere. T08:59:25-05:00 The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral with five crew members aboard.
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