Ferring said liftoff of the Proton wasnt enough to make him relax. He breathed a sigh of relief when the module made it into orbit.
"Im not comfortable until the solar arrays deploy," he said. "Weve been watching a lot of telemetry from Moscow and everything looks pretty much standard."
By early morning the service module was operating normally with the exception of a small target used for manual docking.
As the about 20 International Space Station (ISS) controllers at Johnson Space Center prepared for the tasks ahead, upper management attended the launch in Baikonur.
Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey, along with ISS managers Tommy Holloway and Bob Cabana, traveled to the Baikonur Cosmodrome for the launch. Also attending were astronauts Gen. Thomas Stafford and Vance Brand, who flew on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project almost exactly 25 years ago that ushered in an age of international cooperation.
Holloway said he was ready for the station assembly to continue again after what seemed like interminable delays.
"The work we have ahead in assembling the ISS is challenging and sometimes difficult, but the journey will be worth it," he said.
Manager for international operations, Bob Cabana, said even though the service module launched two years behind schedule, everyone needed to have faith in the stations partners, particularly the Russians.
Cabana added he was excited about getting a crew to the station by the end of the year, and about the upcoming addition of the laboratory module in 2001 during the stations construction.
"Weve gotta have a successful docking," he said of the upcoming mating of Zvezda with the ISS. "Then were off and running."
About 45 flights of space shuttles and Russian Soyuz and Progress vehicles will be needed to assemble the more than 100 elements of the station before it is completed in 2005.
Currently the Russian control center near Moscow manages the space station and will oversee the automatic docking of the Zvezda and ISS in about two week. Controllers in Houston though are running the U.S. module already aloft and gearing up for larger responsibilities.
When the U.S. laboratory module goes aloft in 2001, controllers in Houston will assume responsibility for the stations guidance and propulsion.
Astronaut Ellen Baker described early Tuesday evening the importance of the service module to the ISS.
"Its the heart and soul of the station. Its got the guidance control and all of the important command functions of the station are run from there," Baker said.
She added there really couldnt be a space station without the service modules addition, since it provides life support and crew quarters during the ISS early years.
"Obviously, if were going to have a permanent presence in space -- if were going to have a crew in space at all times on board the space station -- this module must get up there, dock and function well," Baker said.
Though the launch was critical both to the assembly of the station and U.S. and Russian pride, it didnt stop the Russians from making some extra cash. Plastered on the side of the 180-foot (55-meter) tall Proton rocket carrying the service module was an ad for Pizza Hut.
"Our sponsorship of this critical mission tells consumers around the world that were always looking to take Pizza Hut innovation to new heights," said the companys president and chief concept officer Mike Rawlings.
Reports in the Russian press say the pizza restaurant chain spent $1 million to put the logo on the Proton.
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