Space Station Assembly Resumes with Atlantis Launch
09 September 2006
Crewmembers will install truss segment, solar arrays
Washington -- Space shuttle Atlantis (STS-115) lifted into the Florida sky September 9, taking the next critical step in completing construction of the International Space Station and giving spacefaring nations a platform for cooperation.
Liftoff occurred on the last day of the launch window that began August 27. Over those two weeks, launches were postponed due to an August 25 lightning strike at the launch pad and to a close pass by tropical storm Ernesto near Kennedy Space Center August 28.
Other delays were caused by problems with one of Atlantis's three electricity-generating fuel cells and one of four engine-cutoff sensors inside the hydrogen portion of the space shuttle's orange external tank.
"What you saw today was a flawless count, a majestic launch and it was tough to get here," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said at a post-launch press briefing September 9. "This vehicle had not flown since 2001 and not everything in the count leading up to this day was easy."
The mission marks the first time in nearly four years, since late 2002, that a space station component will be added to the orbiting outpost. It is also considered the start of some of the shuttle program's most challenging space missions.
"Our partners are pretty excited," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for space operations. "I got four or five e-mails on the way over here from partners around the world. No matter what time it is, it seemed they were all watching the shuttle launch and they all [congratulated] … us on getting this launch off."
Led by the United States, the International Space Station draws on the scientific and technological resources of 16 nations -- Canada, Japan, Russia, Brazil and 11 nations of the European Space Agency.
POWER FROM THE SUN
The STS-115 crewmembers are commander Brent Jett, pilot Christopher Ferguson and mission specialists Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joseph Tanner, Daniel Burbank and Steven MacLean, who represents the Canadian Space Agency.
Atlantis is carrying a valuable cargo of solar power systems for the space station, including two rolled-up "blankets" of solar cells that together can generate 66 kilowatts of power, enough to nearly double the power available for the station.
During planned three spacewalks, the crewmembers will install another piece of equipment, the P3/P4 integrated truss - part of the station's girder-like backbone - and the solar arrays, adding 17.5 tons to its mass.
"This is probably the most complicated assembly sequence that has been undertaken," said Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale during an August 16 press briefing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Atlantis's mission will include all the safety features tested on the past two shuttle flights -- improved imagery of the shuttle and its heat-shield components during launch, heat-shield inspections in orbit, and a shuttle back flip -- a 360-degree pitch-around maneuver 183 meters below the station -- so the station’s Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeff Williams can obtain high-resolution digital imagery of Atlantis.
On the ground, engineers will analyze the condition of the shuttle's heat shield.
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
The safety precautions have been instituted mainly to make sure that no loss of insulating foam from the external tank has damaged the shuttle during launch, and that the orbiter's protective tiles and reinforced surfaces are intact for the fiery entry into Earth's atmosphere on the way home.
Since the July 2005 launch of Discovery (STS-121), when a large piece of insulating foam came off the external tank, NASA engineers have been working to eliminate a recurrence of such an event during future launches.
The loss of space shuttle Columbia with its seven-member crew on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in 2003 was caused by damage resulting from external-tank foam striking the orbiter during launch.
SPACE STATION CREWS
When Atlantis arrives at the station two days after its launch, the three-man Expedition 13 crew will greet the six-person shuttle crew.
Vinogradov and Williams have been aboard the complex since April 1, after their launch on the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
They are scheduled to return to Earth in late September after the next station crew arrives. Expedition 14 will launch in another Soyuz spacecraft in September.
The third member of the Expedition 13 crew is European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, who arrived at the outpost on the STS-121 mission. He will stay on board with the Expedition 14 crew through the end of the year.
NASA astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams, and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will be the 14th space station crew.
FUTURE EXPLORATION
The shuttle program is scheduled for mandatory retirement in 2010.NASA's Constellation Program is developing a new vehicle, Orion,to carry the next generation of explorers back to the moon and later to Mars. The booster that will launchOrion will be called Ares I, and a larger heavy-lift launch vehicle will be called Ares V.
Orion's first flight with astronauts onboard is planned for no later than 2014, and it will take its crew to the International Space Station. Its first flight to the moon is planned for no later than 2020.
The spacecraft will be approximately 5 meters in diameter and have a mass of about 25 tons. Inside, it will have more than 2.5 times the volume of an Apollo capsule used in previous moon flights.
Orion will be able to transport cargo and up to six crewmembers to and from the space station, and carry four crewmembers for lunar missions. Later, it can support crew transfers for Mars missions.
More information about STS-115 andOrion is available on the NASA Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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