atlantis_launch_000908 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Shuttle Atlantis and seven astronauts set sail for the International Space Station Friday, embarking on
a mission to outfit the vacant outpost for its first full-time tenants and a slew of future construction crews.With
five Americans and two Russians strapped into its crew cabin, Atlantis skirted offshore rain showers and rocketed away from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 8:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (12:45 GMT) as the fledgling station flew high above Hungary. 
Atlantis lifted off on time at 8:45 a.m. EDT.
The earthshaking launch set the stage for the highly anticipated grand opening of the stations new
Russian-made crew quarters, which arrived at the outpost in July after a two-year delay.Yearlong surge
Whats more, the thundering climb into orbit heralded the beginning of an intense yearlong surge of 15 U.S. shuttle and Russian rocket missions aimed at getting the outpost up and operating in earnest.
"I sort of feel like a father, or more like a grandfather, thats expecting triplets or something. Very shortly the station is going to come to life and literally be born," said NASA space station program manager Tommy Holloway.
"Were all excited about starting this," added Atlantis mission specialist Ed Lu. "There are an awful lot of launches coming up in the next year, and the space station is really going to be taking shape. Were all looking forward to getting this off on the right foot."
Trailing the station by some 6,600 miles (10,560 kilometers) at launch, Atlantis and its crew will spend the next two days closing the gap between the craft. A high-flying rendezvous and docking at the station is scheduled at about 1:10 a.m. EDT (05:10 GMT) Sunday.
Less than 24 hours later, Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko will don $12 million spacesuits and
head outside Atlantis, scaling to a point near the top of the towering outpost, which is roughly the height of a 13-story building.Blue Earth as a backdrop
Working some 110 feet (33.4 meters) above the nose of Atlantis with the blue Earth as a backdrop, Lu and Malenchenko will route electrical-power, television and data-transmission cables between the new crew quarters and the rest of the station.
"Were expecting a pretty incredible view," Lu said.
The six-and-a-half-hour job which is scheduled to begin about 1 a.m. EDT (05:00 GMT) Monday -- will take the pair further from their ship than any tethered shuttle spacewalker has ventured to date.
NASA officials, however, said Lu and Malenchenko, would be able to get back to the shuttle and safety within 15 minutes in an emergency. Their spacesuits both have a 30-minute supply of emergency oxygen.
Setting up house
Once the work outside is done, the crew will turn its attention to setting up house inside the outpost for the stations first full-time tenants, who plan to take up residence at the outpost in early November.
Like a long-haul moving company, the Atlantis crew will unpack a shuttle cargo bay shipping container and a Russian space freighter now docked at the outpost.
Theyll also unpack more than three tons of supplies and equipment including crucial space station life-support systems -- for
the first resident crew, which includes U.S. astronaut William Shepherd and two cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev.The gear
The gear includes oxygen-generation and carbon dioxide-removal systems, as well as exercise equipment, a toilet, tools and space station batteries.
Food, water, clothes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and soap will also be dropped off, along with home office equipment: laptop computers, pens, pencils, Post-It Notes, scissors and tape.
The work inside the station is expected to take five days to finish, but NASA already is thinking about adding an extra day to the flight to make certain the job gets done.
"We want to have [the station] ready for move-in when were complete," said Atlantis pilot Scott Altman.
As it stands, Atlantis is scheduled to pull away from the station around 11 p.m. EDT September 16 (September 17, 03:00 GMT). Landing at KSC is slated for 4:45 a.m. EDT (08:45 GMT) September 19.
Traffic to and from the station, however, wont be at a standstill for long.
Shuttle Discovery launch
Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch 16 days later on October 5 -- with the first piece of the stations girder-like backbone.
Seven more shuttle missions will follow by November 2001 to add key components such as power-producing solar wings and a U.S. lab that will serve as the scientific hub of the station.
Seven Russian rockets also are to fly during that time, launching space taxis, supply ships and a docking compartment to the outpost.
Questions still loom about Russias financial problems and its ability to deliver goods and services for the station construction project, a joint effort of 16 nations on four continents.
But NASA officials are confident the new station will become an operational research park in the next 12 months.
"This is an exciting time in the history of human spaceflight," Holloway said.
"We are going to have a world-class laboratory on orbit with a permanently manned presence in the very, very near future," added Robert Cabana, NASAs manager for international station operations. "And its going to be something spectacular."
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