'Atlantis' set to arrive at space station today

CAPE CANAVERAL -- Space shuttle Atlantis cruised ever closer to the international space station on Tuesday for a weeklong linkup to deliver and install a 14-ton girder.

The two-day chase ends today, 240 miles up.

Atlantis' astronauts spent Tuesday preparing for the rendezvous and the three spacewalks that will follow to hook up the girder. Thousands of miles ahead of them, the space station residents tidied up the place for their first guests.

American Peggy Whitson and two Russian astronauts moved into the orbiting outpost in June. They were supposed to return to Earth this month, but their mission was extended by a month after the entire space shuttle fleet was grounded over the summer to fix fuel-line cracks.

Atlantis is carrying a $390-million structure will form part of the space station's backbone and serve as a massive radiator.

Each of the girder's three radiator panels is 75 feet long and 15 feet wide; the entire set is about the size of a tennis court and designed to cool the equivalent of four 2,000-square-foot homes.

The girder will be attached to the space station Thursday. Whitson and shuttle astronaut Sandra Magnus will use the station's robot arm to clamp the girder to one that was installed this year. Then two shuttle astronauts will float outside to hook up cables.

A nearly identical girder will be launched by space shuttle Endeavour next month.

Also being delivered to the space station by Atlantis: a new treadmill base, tools, computer and camera equipment, fresh food and care packages from the families of Whitson and her crew.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright