Posted on 05/05/2010 9:01:29 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
NASA has cleared the space shuttle Atlantis for its last planned launch on May 14, the first of three final spaceflights planned for the U.S. space agency's storied space plane fleet.
Atlantis is officially set to blast off on May 14 at 2:20 p.m. EDT (1820 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. The shuttle's six-astronaut crew will deliver and install a new Russian science module called Rassvet, which means "Dawn" in Russian.
"We're ready to go next Friday," NASA's shuttle program chief John Shannon told reporters Wednesday. "It's been 15 days since we last landed, nine days until we launch. This is the kind of pace that this team thrives on."
NASA's most recent shuttle mission aboard Atlantis' sister ship Discovery delivered tons of spare parts to the station in April. Discovery landed on April 20, setting the stage for Atlantis' upcoming mission.
Tough mission on tap
Veteran NASA astronaut Ken Ham, a U.S. Navy captain, is commanding the mission, which will mark the 132nd space shuttle flight in NASA history since the reusable space plane fleet began flying in April 1981. It will be the 32nd flight for Atlantis, which made its first spaceflight in 1985.
"This flight has a little bit of everything," Shannon said of Atlantis' last planned spaceflight.
Ham and his crew plan to perform three spacewalks packed with challenging robotic arm work to to install the new Russian module - also known as Mini-Research Module 1 - on the International Space Station, replace old solar array batteries and deliver spare parts for the station and its exterior maintenance robot Dextre.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Ping
Manned space flight ended throughout Carter’s ONE term also.
Actually the last manned flight in the 1970s was the Apollo-Soyuz Tesy priject which flew in July 1975. That would be under the Ford Administration
what relevance have you now? It's like you're already dead and utterly forgotten.
Ex-actly.
Yes last flight under Ford first Shuttle flight 1981.
Carter did fund the shuttle but it was still a period of low national self esteem on his watch.
At least until January 2013....
I really want to get down there to see one of the final launches. It’s a two day drive — maybe it will be worth the effort.
Time for commercial space to do its thing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.