HOUSTON - Shuttle Atlantis and five astronauts will blast off on the first piloted spaceflight of 2001 on January 19, hauling a U.S. science laboratory up to the International Space Station.
Atlantis and its astronauts are scheduled to thunder aloft at 2:11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (07:11 GMT), heading off on an ambitious space station construction mission.
Senior NASA managers selected the launch date during a traditional flight readiness review at Kennedy Space Center Wednesday, noting that the flight will be the first in a year that will mark the 20th anniversary of the agency's maiden shuttle voyage.
"The space shuttle will see the 20th anniversary of its first launch this spring, and it's a fitting celebration that the year ahead holds some of the most challenging and spectacular tasks the shuttle has ever been assigned," said NASA shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore.
"The team has done an excellent job getting Atlantis ready to go, and we're ready to get what will be a historic year in space off to a great start."
Heading up the Atlantis crew will be veteran mission commander Ken Cockrell. Also onboard: Rookie pilot Mark Polansky and three mission specialists -- Tom Jones, Marsha Ivins and Robert Curbeam.
The crew aims to mount the U.S. Destiny lab to the international station, paving the way for scientific research to begin on the outpost this spring. The $1.38 billion lab will be the first of six research facilities to be added to the station during the coming four years.Jones and Curbeam will carry out a trio of spacewalks primarily aimed at attaching the 16-ton lab to the outpost and then wiring up its electrical and cooling systems. Working side-by-side with the station's first full-time tenants, the shuttle crew then will help activate crucial lab systems during Atlantis' weeklong visit to the outpost.
The Atlantis flight will be the first of six station construction missions planned aboard space shuttles this year.
Three Italian-made moving vans, a Canadian-built construction crane and an airlock for staging spacewalks are to be added to the growing outpost before the end of the year.
The Atlantis flight will be the 102nd for the shuttle program, which will mark the 20th anniversary of its inaugural launch on April 12. Cockrell and his crew are scheduled to land at KSC's shuttle runway on Jan. 29.
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