CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The International Space Station is ready for occupancy.
That was the word from NASA Sunday as the visiting crew of shuttle Atlantis finished setting up house for the stations first full-time tenants.
A view of the International Space Station through the windows of shuttle Atlantis during the STS-106 mission in Septemberr 2000. NASA image.
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In a matter of a week, the astronauts wired the stations new crew quarters for electricity and satellite television, put in an air conditioning system and set up a fitness center, a makeshift medical clinic and a high-tech toilet.
They stocked the pantry with food and water and left a wardrobe of comfortable clothes for the so-called Expedition One crew, which is due to take up residence at the station in November.
They stowed enough supplies - laptop computers, printers, pens and pencils - to outfit a home office in orbit, and the dropped off enough toothpaste and shampoo to last the crew through their planned four-month stay."The carpet has been rolled out for that crew. And the stage has been set for the start of human habitation on the international research facility in orbit," NASA flight commentator Rob Navias said from the agencys Mission Control Center in Houston.
"Its pretty homey in here actually," added Atlantis mission specialist Ed Lu. "I think it will be a real nice place to live."
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Busy work week
Launched September 8, the Atlantis astronauts spent the past six days outfitting the inside of the 13-story station for U.S. astronaut William Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts - Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev.
The Expedition One trio is scheduled to blast off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 30 and then arrive at the station two days later.
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During the final full day in the station, the Atlantis astronauts finished unloading a shuttle cargo bay shipping container and closed up a Progress space freighter docked at the outpost.
All tolled, some 6,000 pounds (2,700 kilograms) of supplies and equipment were hauled out of the two craft and then stowed in the station.
In a bid to boost the station into a higher orbit, the astronauts also carried out an hour-long series of shuttle thruster firings. Thirty-six pulse-like firings were conducted at 100-second intervals in what was the fourth and final session of orbit-raising maneuvers for the mission.
The thruster firings propelled the station into an orbit some 240 miles (384 kilometers) above Earth, putting it in position for a planned rendezvous with shuttle Discovery next month.
Then the crew began sealing some 12 hatches that separate the existing four wings of the station: the bug-shaped Progress, the new Russian-made crew quarters, a Russian space tug and an American docking module.
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Photo op
Still to come today: A high-flying photo opportunity during the shuttles scheduled departure from the station at 11:44 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time Sunday (Monday, 03:44 GMT).
With pilot Scott Altman at the controls, Atlantis will fly two giant loops around the station, enabling its camera-toting crew to film the outpost before the shuttle beings a two-day trip back to NASAs Kennedy Space Center.
Atlantis and its crew - which includes five U.S. astronauts and two Russian cosmonauts - remains scheduled for landing at 3:56 a.m. EDT (07:56 GMT) Wednesday.
Mission managers, however, are keeping a wary eye on Hurricane Gordon, which is approaching the west coast of Florida.
At 5 a.m. EDT (09:00 GMT), the center of the storm was about 155 miles (248 kilometers) west-southwest of Tampa. Forecasters expect the hurricane to sweep across northwest Florida later today, and the remnants of the storm could affect NASAs landing plans.
Shuttle program managers, meanwhile, will decide later today whether to roll Discovery from its launch pad to KSCs 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building - a move that could delay the shuttles scheduled October 5 launch.
Forecasters, however, expect the storm to stay well north of the KSC area, so its likely Discovery will remain at its oceanside pad.
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