space shuttle Atlantis
NASA cleared space shuttle Atlantis for liftoff Monday on a trip to stock up the International Space Station with several years’ worth of spare parts.
Mission managers gave the go-ahead Saturday as forecasters put the odds of good launch weather at 90 percent, about as good as it gets.
Atlantis will deliver nearly 30,000 pounds of pumps, storage tanks, gyroscopes and other spare parts, along with six astronauts who will unload everything.
The goal is to take up as many large parts as possible, to keep the space station running for five to 10 years after the shuttle program ends next fall. Some of the pieces are too big to fit in any other spacecraft.
Only six shuttle missions remain, including this one.
Atlantis will bring back Clearwater astronaut Nicole Passonno Stott , who has been living on the space station since the end of August.
read full article: ‘Atlantis’ cleared for Monday launch
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