(FEBRUARY 4, 2008) — Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, carrying a new research facility to be installed on the International Space Station.
A bent cooling system hose, which NASA found during an inspection of Atlantis last week, almost delayed the lift-off. The hose, one of four hoses that carry Freon to the shuttle radiators in the payload bay, was found bent and not properly retracted in its storage box. But NASA engineers designed a tool to guide the hose back into the storage box and then gave the OK to close the payload doors using the tool Sunday night.
The shuttle, set to blast off at 2:45 p.m. EST, will carry the new Columbus laboratory, which was built in Italy and outfitted in Germany. It will be the second dedicated research facility taken to the ISS, and can hold 10 racks dedicated for experiments covering a wide range of space science.
The shuttle will also deliver a new crewmember — Mission Specialist Leopold Eyharts of the European Space Agency — and bring back Mission Specialist Daniel Tani, who was launched to the station on STS-120 in October 2007. Eyharts will return to Earth on shuttle Endeavour's STS-123 mission, currently targeted for launch on March 11, 2008.
The countdown clock will begin ticking at 5 p.m. today. In addition to carrying the new laboratory, the shuttle will also carry three NASCAR flags in honor of the 50th anniversaries of NASA and the Daytona 500. Astronauts will make three spacewalks, each lasting approximately 6.5 hours, to install the new laboratory during the 11-day mission.
The STS-122 mission was originally scheduled for December 2007, but was delayed after failures occurred in a fuel sensor system while Atlantis' external fuel tank was being filled.
Meet the crew
- Navy Cmdr. Stephen N. Frick will command the STS-122 shuttle mission; it will be Frick's second spaceflight. A native of Gibsonia, Pa., he served as pilot of shuttle mission STS-110 in 2002. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., and the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif.
- Air Force Col. Rex J. Walheim, who considers San Carlos, Calif., his hometown, also flew on shuttle mission STS-110 in 2002 and is a veteran of two spacewalks. He has a bachelor's from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's from the University of Houston.
- Leland D. Melvin is a native of Lynchburg, Va., and has a bachelor's from the University of Richmond and a master's from the University of Virginia. STS-122 will be his first spaceflight.
- Navy Cmdr. Alan G. Poindexter will serve as pilot. It will be his first spaceflight, although he has more than 3,500 hours in over 30 aircraft types and has logged over 450 carrier landings. A Pasadena, Calif., native, Poindexter has a master's from the Naval Postgraduate School and a bachelor's from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
- Stanley G. Love, a Eugene, Ore., native, has a bachelor's from Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, Calif., and a master's and doctorate from the University of Washington. It is also his first spaceflight.
- European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel, a native of Aachen, Germany, has a master's degree from the University of Aachen. His first flight was on shuttle mission STS-55 in 1993.
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Members of the crew of space shuttle Atlantis practice countdown procedures in a training mockup of the shuttle's middeck at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Photo credit: NASA
Commander Steve Frick and the Atlantis crew will deliver the Columbus module to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA
The space shuttle Atlantis, seen here soon after it was moved to Launch Pad 39A for liftoff, will carry the European-built Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station.
Photo credit: NASA
Wouldn’t you like to live there?
When the International Space Station is complete, it will have a mass of almost 1 million pounds, be larger than a five-bedroom house and measure 361 feet end-to-end.
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