[sarex] NASA's Shuttle Atlantis Begins Mission to the Space Station

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468


> Sept. 9, 2006
>
> Tracy Young/Allard Beutel 
> Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 
> 321-867-2468 
>
>
> NASA'S SHUTTLE ATLANTIS BEGINS MISSION TO THE SPACE STATION
>
> The Space Shuttle Atlantis and its six-member crew are on their way to 
> the International Space Station after lifting-off from NASA's Kennedy 
> Space Center, Fla., at 11:14:55 a.m. EDT Saturday. 
>
> "It's been almost four years, two Return to Flight missions, a 
> tremendous amount of work by thousands of individuals to get the 
> shuttle program back to where we are right now and that's on the 
> verge of restarting the station assembly sequence," said Atlantis' 
> Commander Brent Jett. "We're confident over the next few weeks, and 
> few years for that matter, that NASA's going to prove to our nation, 
> to our partners and our friends around the world that it was worth 
> the wait and the sacrifice. We're ready to get to work." 
>
> The fuel cut-off sensor system, which malfunctioned and delayed 
> Atlantis' scheduled Friday launch, performed normally Saturday. The 
> engine cut-off, or ECO, sensor is one of four inside the liquid 
> hydrogen section of the shuttle's external fuel tank. 
>
> Atlantis' flight, STS-115, will resume construction of the 
> International Space Station. The shuttle and station crews will work 
> with ground teams to install a girder-like structure, known as the 
> P3/P4 truss aboard the station. The 35,000-pound piece includes a set 
> of giant solar arrays, batteries and associated electronics. The 
> arrays eventually will double the station's power capability. 
>
> Atlantis' crew includes Pilot Chris Ferguson and mission specialists 
> Dan Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joe Tanner and Steve MacLean, a 
> Canadian Space Agency astronaut. The shuttle is scheduled to dock 
> with the station on Monday. Once Atlantis arrives, a day could be 
> added to the 11-day mission for a focused inspection of the shuttle's 
> heat shield. 
>
> For the latest information about the STS-115 mission and its crew, 
> visit: 
>
> http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
>
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