The clock
is once more ticking down towards the launch of NASA's space shuttle Atlantis as six
astronauts prepare to rocket towards the International Space
Station (ISS) on Wednesday.
The launch countdown
for Atlantis' STS-115
mission to deliver new
solar arrays and trusses to the ISS began at 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) as
planned, NASA officials said. The shuttle is set to launch at about 12:29 p.m.
EDT (1629 GMT) on Wednesday.
"There's a
saying that says if you work hard you bring yourself good luck," STS-115
shuttle commander Brent Jett said Saturday of the mission
controllers, technicians and workers preparing Atlantis for flight. "And if
that's true, these guys deserve some good luck with the weather."
Jett and
his fellow Atlantis crewmates - shuttle pilot Chris
Ferguson and mission specialists Joseph
Tanner, Daniel
Burbank, Heidemarie
Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steven
MacLean, of the Canadian Space Agency - have trained for their 11-day orbital
construction mission for more than four years and weathered delays following
NASA's 2003 Columbia accident.
Atlantis' cargo
of a $371.8 million set of new solar wings and 17.5-ton pair of trusses will
mark NASA's first major ISS addition since late 2002
and the third shuttle flight following the loss of Columbia and its crew.
The mission
has been delayed several times in the last week, first due a powerful
lightning strike to the shuttle's Pad 39B launch site that prompted
spacecraft checks which prevented launch attempts on Aug. 27 and 28. Mission managers stood
down on Aug. 29 to ready Atlantis to weather
then-Tropical Storm Ernesto.
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