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Image above: The Atlantis crew gathers on the runway of the Shuttle
Landing Facility in Florida after arriving in NASA T-38 jets Saturday
morning. Photo credit: NASA |
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STS-115 crew prepares for launch
At the launch readiness news conference on Monday afternoon, Wayne Hale,
shuttle program manager, said that even though the tropical weather put
them behind earlier in the week, thanks to hard work by the launch team,
the vehicle is ready for liftoff and 'we are looking forward to a really
good mission.'
LeRoy Cain, launch integration manager, reported that after reviews by
the mission management team, "At the end of the day we did our readiness
poll to continue from here toward launch and we got a "go" from
all the elements and we feel like we're in very good shape."
Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach said the countdown is going smoothly
and they are looking for a good, on-time liftoff on Wednesday.
U.S. Air Force First Lt. Kaleb Nordgren of the 45th Weather Squadron
at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station provided an update on the prospects
for launch-day weather issues. Conditions continue to look favorable,
with only a 20 percent chance of a "no go" due to weather at
the liftoff time of 12:29 p.m.
The countdown officially began at 8 a.m. Sunday, at the T-43 hour mark,
which includes over 30 hours of built-in hold time prior to a targeted
12:29 p.m. launch on Wednesday. The launch time is the middle point in
the launch window that extends for 10 minutes.
Atlantis' Crew and Mission
The STS-115 crew consists of Commander Brent W. Jett Jr., Pilot Christopher
J. Ferguson and Mission Specialists Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, KD5TVR,
Joseph R. Tanner, Daniel C. Burbank, KC5ZSX, and Steven G. MacLean, who
represents the Canadian Space Agency.
With this mission, NASA is ready to get back to building the International
Space Station, marking the first time in almost four years that a space
station component has been added to the orbiting outpost. That also means
the shuttle program is coming up on some of the most challenging space
missions ever.
During their three spacewalks, crew members of Atlantis will install
the P3/P4 integrated truss and a second set of solar arrays on the space
station, doubling the station’s current ability to generate power
from sunlight and adding 17.5 tons to its mass.
Learn more about the truss
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