14 DAY TRIAL // NASA mission controllers and planners have decided that the space shuttle Atlantis is in excellent shape to fly tomorrow, on the STS-129 assembly mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft will take off from the Launch Pad 39A complex at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will carry only a crew of six, as opposed to the average seven, and will deliver two large containers full of spare parts to the ISS, in addition to new scientific experiments. The parts are going to be stored in external cargo holding compartments, on the hull of the station, Space reports.
Launch Pad 39A is the only facility in the United States at this point that can still fit the space shuttles and their external fuel engines. The other pad at the KSC, 39B, has been delivered to Project Constellation ever since Atlantis returned from repairing the Hubble Space Telescope, earlier this year. The shuttle program is scheduled to end in late 2010, and NASA is working hard to secure as many spare parts on the orbital outpost as possible. Once the shuttles are gone, there will remain no space ships able to haul such large pieces of equipment to the station until at least 2015.
According to officials at the space agency, the launch sequence for the new Atlantis flight will begin at 2:28 pm EST (1928 GMT). In a Saturday briefing, Kathy Winters, the weather official at the KSC, said that things were looking good for the launch tomorrow. “Overall Monday is looking good so hopefully we'll go off on Monday,” she mentioned. Weather at the KSC is tricky this time of year, as evidenced by the delays that occurred in launching the ARES I-X rocket prototype, last month. Atlantis' launch data was also further cleared by the cancellation of an unmanned flight by an Atlas V rocket.
Atlas mission managers say that the delay offers the space shuttle an ample opportunity to launch. Mike Moses, the leader of the Atlantis management team, says that the cancellation will not affect the Atlas launch. “They'll be ready to go when they're ready. We fully expect we'll be out of here come Monday and the range will be clear for them to try again,” he adds. “We're one day into Atlantis' countdown and I'm happy to report we're right on the money,” Mike Leinbach, the launch director of the new shuttle flight, shares.
Once on the ISS, all the spare parts will be unloaded and placed for storage outside the station in three spacewalks. The orbital lab is currently experiencing some water-recycling problems, but experts say that the issues will not affect the outbound crew. STS-129 is scheduled to be the last flight in which an ISS expedition member is ferried down using the space shuttle. NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, an ISS flight engineer, will return home when Atlantis finishes its 11-day mission. Astronaut Charlie Hobaugh will be the commander of the shuttle for the flight.