Atlantis Docks at Space Station for Last Time 10 July 2011, by Kerry Sheridan

Atlantis docks at space station for last time 10 July 2011, by Kerry Sheridan

"What we were told today is very preliminary," said deputy manager of the space shuttle program LeRoy Cain. "It is a potential right now."

Atlantis began its 12-day journey on Friday with a picture-perfect liftoff from Kennedy Space Center that was watched locally by hundreds of thousands of tourists, and marked the last-ever blastoff of the three decade long program.

The flight marks the end of an era for NASA, leaving Americans with no actively operating government-run human spaceflight program and no method for sending astronauts to space until private industry comes up with a new capsule, likely Space shuttle Atlantis blasts off from launch pad 39A at by 2015 at the earliest. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 8. The shuttle Atlantis -- on its final mission to space With the shuttle gone, only Russia's three-seat before the US program ends after 30 years -- is Soyuz capsules will be capable of carrying approaching the International Space Station for one last astronauts to the ISS at a cost of more than $50 hitch-up with the orbiting lab. million per seat.

Asked on CNN Sunday about headlines that proclaim the start of a period of Russian dominance The shuttle Atlantis docked at the orbiting in spaceflight, the US space agency's administrator International Space Station for one last hitch-up Charles Bolden said: "I don't think I could disagree Sunday, on its final space voyage before the entire more with the headlines." 30-year US shuttle program shuts down for good. "We have been the leader for many years, many The shuttle docked at 11:07 am (1507 GMT), just decades now, and that will -- we will maintain that over an hour after the spacecraft performed its leadership," said the former astronaut. habitual slow backflip so that the ISS crew could take pictures of Atlantis's heat shield before Atlantis is carrying 8,000 pounds (3,000 kilograms) clasping onto the lab, NASA said. of supplies, which the combined crew of 10 -- four aboard the shuttle's STS-135 mission and six Hatches opened between the two spacecraft at aboard the ISS as part of Expedition 28 -- will 12:47 pm (1647 GMT), and the four Atlantis transfer during the mission. astronauts floated across to greet their ISS crewmates with hugs and smiles. A failed ammonia pump will then be transferred to the shuttle payload bay for return to Earth. Shortly afterward, NASA said it was tracking a piece of space debris that could be on a path to Monday will be occupied with setting up the transfer collide with the ISS by Tuesday, the day that two of the Raffaello multipurpose module, which holds US astronauts are scheduled to step out on a the extra supplies, from the shuttle to the Earth- spacewalk. facing side of the station's Harmony module.

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A spacewalk by American ISS crew members Bolden said. Garan and Mike Fossum is set for Tuesday. "The president has set the goals: an asteroid in The duo has already stepped out together on three 2025, Mars in 2030. I can't get any more definitive spacewalks in June 2008 as part of the STS-124 than that," he said. mission that delivered the Japanese Kibo lab to the ISS. (c) 2011 AFP

"Poetry in motion," said a commentator at mission control in Houston after the shuttle began its nine- minute somersault ahead of approach, also known as the rendezvous pitch maneuver.

The one-degree-per-second backflip was a key maneuver in Atlantis's approach to the lab, allowing ISS crew members already at the station to take photos of the shuttle's exterior and check if any damage was incurred during the takeoff.

The approach and latch-on were "flawless," said mission control.

Three ISS crew, including Japanese flight engineer Satoshi Furukawa, snapped high-resolution photos of the shuttle as it circled in toward the orbiting lab.

On Saturday, the Atlantis crew performed the first inspection of the craft's thermal protection system, the outer barrier that protects it from the searing heat upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

Careful inspections of the shuttle body have become a primary activity since the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere in 2003.

A panel of experts concluded that a heat shield tile on the craft's wing was damaged at blast-off, fatally compromising the craft's re-entry protection and killing all seven crew on board.

The shuttle's return to Earth is currently scheduled for July 20, though NASA may add an extra day to the mission.

After that, NASA will continue working with private industry on plans to build a next generation spacecraft to tote astronauts and cargo to the ISS, while NASA focuses on a multipurpose crew vehicle that could take astronauts to deep space,

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APA citation: Atlantis docks at space station for last time (2011, July 10) retrieved 25 September 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2011-07-atlantis-docks-space-station.html

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