Posted on 11/10/2007 7:25:41 PM PST by NormsRevenge
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA moved space shuttle Atlantis to its seaside launch pad on Saturday ahead of a planned early December mission to get Europe's first permanent space laboratory into orbit.
Riding on top of a 3,000-ton Apollo-era crawler transporter, Atlantis left the Kennedy Space Center's massive assembly building before dawn. The 3.8-mile trek took about five hours.
For a change, NASA has time to spare in its campaign to prepare the shuttle for the three-day launch countdown beginning on December 3.
Whether the International Space Station will be ready for Atlantis' arrival is another question.
Station commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Dan Tani 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, Whitson and 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 at the opening of its eight-day launch window on December 6.
Already waiting at the launch pad for Atlantis was Columbus, Europe's primary contribution to the $100 billion, 16-nation space station project. The lab is scheduled to be loaded into the shuttle's cargo bay on Sunday.
Atlantis' seven-man crew, which includes European astronauts Hans Schlegel of Germany and Leopold Eyharts of France, is scheduled to arrive in Florida next weekend for a launch dress 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.
The space shuttle Atlantis rolls out to launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida November 10, 2007. The space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch December 6 on a mission to the International Space Station. (Scott Audette/Reuters)
For the ping list
STS-122
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts122/index.html
STS-122 will deliver the Columbus European Laboratory Module and will be the twenty-fourth mission to the International Space Station.
Launch Time: 4:31 p.m. EST
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The space shuttle Atlantis moves up the ramp to launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida November 10, 2007. The space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch on December 6 on a mission to the International Space Station. (Scott Audette/Reuters)
The International Space Station is seen from the Space Shuttle Discovery as the two spacecraft separated after 11 days of cooperative work, in this photo released by NASA on November 5, 2007. (NASA/Reuters)
In that pic which one of the solar panels has the malfunctioning drive?
They're cranking 'em out - August, October and Dec... They're gonna have a whole city built up there soon -
not sure.. the doc did a pretty good job.. may not have left much of a scar at all. ;-)
They want and need to have it done by 2010. The ISS that is.
There was two seperate problems with the solar panels. The repair they did was on a tear on the old panels they moved but a new panel recently installed has a problem with the drive. They discovered metal fragments in the drive that moves the panels. Don’t think they fixed that one and it’s critical to the new additions coming soon.
I have a son been working at the KSC on the program for 20 years ;o)
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