CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. - The astronauts are here and the clock is ticking for NASA's
planned launch of the space
shuttle Atlantis on Sunday.
Atlantis
and its six-astronaut crew are poised to launch toward the International Space
Station (ISS) at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) on NASA's first major
construction flight since 2002. With current weather forecasts predicting a 70
percent chance of clear conditions on launch day, Atlantis' STS-115 astronauts
had reason to smile as they arrived here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) today.
"I hope you
can tell by the smiles on our faces that we're very, very happy to be here in
Florida to start the launch countdown," shuttle
commander Brent Jett told reporters at the Shuttle Landing Facility after
the crew flew over the airstrip in formation twice in their T-38 NASA jets.
"There's been a lot of talk in the press lately about NASA being back, and I
think we would all certainly agree with that talk. But we have a saying in Texas, 'It's time to walk the walk.'"
Jett,
Atlantis pilot Chris
Ferguson and mission specialists Joseph
Tanner, Daniel
Burbank, Heidemarie
Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steven
MacLean, of the Canadian Space Agency, will ride Atlantis to the ISS and
deliver two
massive trusses and a pair of solar arrays to the orbital outpost.
"When we
climb aboard Atlantis on Sunday we do so with confidence that the vehicle is
ready, prepared by the best technicians, engineers and managers in the
business," Tanner said, thanking the teams of shuttle workers to prepare his
crew's spaceship. "We just thank you for allowing us to play a little part in
your life's work."
NASA launch
controllers began counting down toward Atlantis' STS-115 liftoff at 12:00 p.m.
EDT (1600 GMT) today, about six hours earlier than planned to allow extra time
to load the shuttle's fuel cell propellant, space agency officials said.
At about
that same time, pad workers were expected to close Atlantis' cargo bay doors
for the final time after one last battery charge for its 17.5-ton solar array
and ISS truss payload.
"The
vehicle, the launch and the flight teams, and the flight crew are all ready for
launch," NASA test director Steven Payne said in a status briefing.
Atlantis
has a 12-day launch window that closes
on Sept. 7 to allow a buffer between the shuttle's flight and the planed
Sept. 14 launch of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft ferrying the next station crew -
Expedition 14 commanded by NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria - and a space
tourist to the orbital outpost.
While there
is only a 30 percent chance of poor weather preventing a Sunday launch, that
percentage drops to just 20 percent on subsequent days, shuttle weather officer
Kathy Winters said.
"Overall,
the weather looks pretty good for launch day," Winters added.
The 11-day
mission features three
spacewalks to install the Port 3/Port 4 (P3/P4) truss segments and new
solar arrays, a $371.8 million addition to the ISS that will double its power
output once fully activated.
The
spaceflight is NASA's third shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia accident, but
the first ISS construction flight since the November
2002 launch of STS-113
aboard Endeavour.
"All we
need is a little good weather on Sunday and we'll be out of here," Jett said.
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