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SPACE SHUTTLE TO DELIVER SPACEWALKING CHAMBER TO SPACE STATION

NEW ORLEANS, LA., July 11th, 2001 -- Space Shuttle Atlantis is poised to lift off tomorrow in a return engagement with the International Space Station. The primary objective of the astronaut crew is to deliver and install the 6?-ton Airlock to the space station so astronauts and cosmonauts can conduct spacewalks independent of the Space Shuttle.

The fourth shuttle mission of the year – STS-104 – is scheduled to launch at 4:04 a.m. (Central time) Thursday, July 12. To rendezvous with the space station, the orbiter Atlantis and astronaut crew of five have a launch window of less than five minutes.

Powering the shuttle into space will be the Lockheed Martin-built Super Lightweight Tank that carries the liquid propellants used in the orbiter’s three main engines and is assembled at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

To install the airlock, the shuttle crew will work alongside the Expedition 2 crew of Yury Usachev, Jim Voss and Susan Helms who have been living on the space station since March. Installation requires three separate spacewalks and use of the new Canadarm2 robotic arm.

The shuttle crew will also transfer water, other supplies and scientific experiments to the station. In addition, the astronauts will document their mission by shooting over one mile of IMAX 3D film to be edited later into a film underwritten by Lockheed Martin.

Opportunities to view the Space Shuttle and International Space Station in orbit can be located at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/index.html

The launch will also be broadcast live on WLAE-TV, Channel 32 in New Orleans. NASA Television will carry the launch on GE-2, Transponder 9C at 85 degrees west longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 Mhz, and audio of 6.8 Mhz.

Harry Wadsworth, 504-257-0094 or harry.wadsworth@maf.nasa.gov