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Destiny meets the space station
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas -- The space shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station on Friday about 225 miles (360 kilometers) above the Earth. On board was precious cargo: a $1.4 billion module that astronauts will begin connecting over the weekend. The U.S.-built Destiny lab will house a variety of experiments to study the effects of weightlessness, including some that could pave the way for human travel to Mars. Astronaut Marsha Ivins, the robot-arm operator, will have just 2 inches (5 centimeters) of clearance when she slowly lifts the lab from its tight berth Saturday. During the weeklong docking, a pair of Atlantis astronauts will conduct three space walks to connect Destiny to Alpha.
The lab is 28 feet (8 meters) long, 14 feet (4 meters) in diameter and weighs 16 tons. Hatches between Atlantis and Alpha were to open about two hours after docking Friday. Atlantis' crew of five astronauts will be the second group of visitors to come aboard Alpha since station commander Bill Shepherd and his two Russian crewmates began their four-month stay on the station three months ago. After the two crews meet, they will transfer various supplies from the shuttle to the space station, including food, water, computers and some outfitting equipment such as computer hard drives and cables needed to activate Destiny when it is mounted onto Alpha. Besides being a hub for science research, Destiny will provide a fourth room for the three men living aboard the space station.
Atlantis' astronauts spent their first full day in orbit Thursday checking their spacesuits and the shuttle robot arm in preparation for Saturday's space walk. Destiny will enable astronauts and cosmonauts to begin major science work aboard the space station, although not for a while. No experiments are currently inside the lab because the shuttle cannot handle the additional weight; the first one is due to arrive in March. Experiments will involve fluids, metals, semiconductors, flames, plants and even the astronauts and cosmonauts themselves. NASA wants to learn more about the effects of radiation and weightlessness on the human body before it sends anyone to Mars. The school bus-size lab is the single most expensive piece of the $100 billion space station. NASA could not afford to build a backup, so if the massive, shiny cylinder is damaged or destroyed in flight, the station will be set back for years. "We try not to think of the cost of the lab. It's certainly not something we could pay back if we ruined it," shuttle commander Ken Cockrell told reporters. The lab also holds 13 computers, which will enable NASA's Mission Control to take over the reins of the space station from the Russian space agency, probably within the next month or two. "Destiny has all the operating hardware basically to control the major functions that have to happen in a spacecraft: life support, control of the avionics," said Atlantis astronaut Robert Curbeam. Atlantis should conclude its 11-day mission February 18. RELATED STORIES: Countdown under way for Wednesday shuttle launch RELATED SITES: NASA Human SpaceFlight | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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