The shuttle's mission is transport the Columbus laboratory module -- a 1.3 billion euro ($2 billion) project financed mainly by Germany, Italy and France -- to the International Space Station. The Columbus project is part of efforts to develop the station into a jumping off point for possible trips to Mars and beyond.
A seven-person crew will man the Atlantis.
They include five mission specialists, of whom two -- France's Patient Columbus set for voyage ...
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Schlegel is scheduled to make two spacewalks to connect power and fluid lines between Columbus and the station. Eyharts hopes to become the first European, long-duration station resident. He's is expected to stay in space for at least 3 months.
Watching the weather
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The Columbus laboratory will allow scientists to do experiments outside the station proper But as with all shuttle launches, there is no guarantee things will go ahead on time, and NASA is hoping that weather conditions will allow the blast-off to proceed.
"We're all thinking that Thursday's the day -- regardless of what the weather guy might tell you," Launch Director Doug Lyons told Reuters news agency.
The current mission was originally scheduled for last December. But that launch was postponed after NASA engineers were forced to check electrical faults with fuel gauges on the shuttle's external fuel tanks.
NASA is under considerably pressure to finish work on the space station by 2010, at which point the ageing fleet of space shuttles is due to be retired.
(Deutsche Welle)
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