NASA Sunday started the official countdown to a planned September 6 launch of the space shuttle Atlantis on a mission to the International Space Station after several scrubbed attempts. The countdown started at 8:00 am (1200 GMT) with engine ignition set for 12:29 pm (1629 GMT) on Wednesday, according to the NASA website.
If weather or technical problems delay the launch, NASA could try again on Thursday or Friday. After that three-day window closes, NASA will have to wait until October 26 or 27 to try again.
A lightning stroke on the launch pad and Tropical Storm Ernesto forced NASA to cancel three launch attempts this week. That delay forced the Russian space agency Roskosmos to push back the departure of the Soyuz and the world's first female space tourist from September 14 to September 18.
The six-member crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday from their home base in Houston, Texas, to make final preparations for the flight.
The crew is commanded by Brent Jett and co-piloted by Chris Ferguson. The four mission specialists are Daniel Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joe Tanner and Canadian Steve MacLean of the Canadian Space Agency.
Under next week's launch schedule, Atlantis will have undocked by September 17 after completing its work on the half-finished International Space Station (ISS).
Atlantis will carry a new 16-tonne segment with two huge solar panels to the ISS, which will provide a one-fourth of the completed station's power.
It will be the first ISS construction mission in nearly four years, as the last two shuttle flights focused on improving flight safety following the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster, which killed all seven astronauts on board.
Crew Arrives At Kennedy Space Center
The six Atlantis shuttle astronauts arrived Saturday in Florida to make final preparations for next week's planned launch to resume construction of an orbiting laboratory, NASA said.
The astronauts flew from their home base in Houston, Texas, to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, arriving aboard NASA T-38 jets at the Shuttle Landing Facility.
The crew is commanded by Brent Jett and co-piloted by Chris Ferguson. The four mission specialists are Daniel Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joe Tanner and Canadian Steve MacLean of the Canadian Space Agency.
The countdown for the Atlantis launch is set to begin at 8:00 am (1200 GMT) Sunday, with liftoff targeted at 12:29 pm (1629 GMT) on Wednesday.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will have two other launch windows, on Thursday and Friday, if the weather or technical problems force the Wednesday launch to be canceled.
Under next week's launch schedule, Atlantis will have undocked by September 17 after completing its work on the half-finished International Space Station (ISS).
A lightning strike on the launch pad and Tropical Storm Ernesto forced NASA to cancel three launch attempts this week.
Atlantis will carry a new 16-tonne segment with two huge solar panels to the ISS, which will provide a quarter of the completed station's power.
It will be the first ISS construction mission in nearly four years, as the last two shuttle flights focused on improving flight safety following the 2003 Columbia shuttle explosion.
