Image above: NASA astronaut Alan Poindexter climbs into a shuttle training aircraft to begin practice landings at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Poindexter is making his first flight and will serve as pilot. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

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Atlantis astronauts practice for orbit

It's one day and counting for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station.

Liftoff is scheduled for Thursday at 2:45 p.m. EST. Mission Management Team Chairman Leroy Cain said Atlantis and its European-built Columbus laboratory look good for the mission.
"The team is in great shape and we're ready to move forward," Cain said.

Weather remains a concern with a forecast that still gives a 40 percent chance of acceptable conditions at launch times.

Mission Commander Steve Frick and Pilot Alan Poindexter started the day practicing landing the shuttle in the Shuttle Training Aircraft. The airplane is a Gulfstream business jet outfitted to mimic a space shuttle's flying characteristics. Although it takes a combination of modifications to the outside of the aircraft and a complex suite of computers to make the transformation from everyday jet handling to that of a 110-ton orbiter, astronauts consistently praise the practice runs for their realism.

The five mission specialists for the flight are also spending full days with checklists and practicing their flight tasks. They have simulators at their disposal that let them rehearse the complex duties required in orbit.

Astronaut Leland Melvin, for example, will operate the robot arm on the International Space Station during the mission to move the Columbus laboratory out of Atlantis' payload bay and attach it to the station. So he can rehearse with a simulator in the Astronaut Crew Quarters that is set up with the same kind of controllers he will use on the station.

As the lead spacewalker on three EVAs, Rex Walheim goes into space with a lot of checklists. One of the spacewalks will include astronaut Stanley Love, who will also help Melvin with the space station's robot arm.

Because the astronauts will be working with two long robot arms during spacewalks in which two astronauts are outside the station, each move is highly choreographed and carefully practiced. It routinely takes months of rehearsal before the actual duties are carried out in space.

The crew also includes European Space Agency astronauts Hans Schlegel of Germany and Leopold Eyharts of France. Both have a list of duties for activating the Columbus lab, which was made in Europe and is ESA's primary contribution to the space station project.

Schlegel will conduct two spacewalks during the flight to connect power and fluid lines between Columbus and the station.

Eyharts will become Europe's first long-duration station resident. He will take the place of NASA astronaut Dan Tani.