'Atlantis' ready for cosmic delivery

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 11, 2006

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HOUSTON - The space shuttle Atlantis, with a preliminary clean bill of health, is about to make a 17½-ton delivery.

Astronauts this morning will use the shuttle's robotic arm to remove a giant truss with two attached solar wings from its cargo bay and give it to the international space station. With that delivery, Atlantis, just two days off the launch pad, will have accomplished a big chunk of its main mission.

Atlantis' mission is to resume construction on the international space station after a three-year hiatus following the loss of the space shuttle Columbia. More parts will be added in 14 other flights.

The truss, more than 300 feet long, will provide power, data and temperature control to the station's electronics. It will take four astronauts three space walks over the next week to get the truss hooked up and unfurl the solar wings.

But before any of that is to happen, Atlantis has to hook up with the space station in a docking maneuver that has become routine, yet remains delicate.

Early this morning, commander Brent Jett will guide Atlantis slowly toward the space station until they are separated by 600 feet. Then Atlantis will make a giant backflip, snuggle up to and then connect with the orbital outpost.

So far, NASA has reported no serious problems with Atlantis' critical heat shield. Astronauts spent much of Sunday using the shuttle's robotic arm to take pictures of the wing and nose area. During the backflip today, the shuttle's underbelly will be examined. It's still too early to tell if everything is free from debris hits, like the ones that caused the disintegration of Columbia in 2003, but NASA managers said Sunday afternoon that the areas already examined are "not suspect," mission management team in-flight chairman John Shannon said.

The shuttle had minor problems with a speed brake and switches on the latches to the cargo bay door, but nothing that worried engineers, Shannon said.