CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Millions will watch during the next two weeks as George W. Bush becomes the next president and Super Bowl XXXV is played in Tampa Bay, but these uniquely-American spectacles will be virtually ignored by the crew of shuttle Atlantis.
That's because the five astronauts will be too busy doing their jobs 230 miles above Earth. The shuttle is scheduled to lift off at 2:11 a.m. EST (07:11 GMT) Thursday and land Jan. 29.
In that time, the nation will have a new president and new Super Bowl champions -- major broadcast events that will go unseen aboard Atlantis and the International Space Station.
But don't think the crew will stay completely oblivious to what's happening on the ground.
In fact, Atlantis commander Ken Cockrell said Thursday that his crew has asked Mission Control to radio up scores on game day, which is January 28 this year.
"We won't be able to get any of the play-by-play or any of the video," Cockrell said. "We'll have to save that for our return."
Two of the four remaining National Football League teams vying for a trip to Tampa Bay could have some hometown help from on high. Astronaut Bob Curbeam, a Baltimore native, will wear a Baltimore Ravens shirt on Super Bowl Sunday if his team is still in the running.
Meanwhile, pilot Mark Polansky, who is from New Jersey, said he will bring his New York Giants T-shirt with him, just in case. "All I have to say is, it's not the Ravens, it's the New York Giants, guys," Polansky teased his crewmates Thursday.
But most of the five-member crew's energy will be spent on the serious task of adding a $1.4 billion U.S. laboratory to the orbiting outpost. Known as Destiny, the laboratory will eventually be a platform for science, but during the next couple of months it will be important for station control.
Connecting the laboratory will involve three separate space walks by Curbeam and fellow Baltimore native Tom Jones.
Astronaut Marsha Ivins will work inside the shuttle, commanding the shuttle's robotic arm to lift up the laboratory and attach it to the station. But the laboratory is a tight fit inside Atlantis' cargo bay. There are only about two inches (five centimeters) of extra room on either side of the laboratory so Ivins must take it out slowly - at a rate of about 0.01 feet (0.3 centimeters) a second.
And she must do all of this using 11 video cameras because a docking port blocks her view out the shuttle's back window.
"For about 50 inches (1.2 meters), (Cockrell) and I won't be breathing," Ivins said.
The crew will go through their final flight simulation in Houston tonight, then will go into quarantine soon after. The five are slated to arrive at Kennedy Space Center on Monday evening for final flight preparations.
Published under license from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright © 2001 FLORIDA TODAY. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of FLORIDA TODAY.
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