NASA prepares to launch the Atlantis spacecraft

Last Wednesday, Atlantis was " crawling " to the launch platform at Kennedy Space Center, after two delays because of bad weather. Called " cow " because it takes 8 hours for a journey of less than 7 km.

Atlantis Ship (Photo: NASA)

The Atlantis is attached to the fuel tank, the two sides are two rocket pipes for solid fuel. After stopping at the launch platform, the spacecraft will be locked with a rotating system, and from there the payloads will be transferred to the spacecraft. The STS-105 mission will start on August 27th. The main task of the STS-105 is to continue the international space station design work.

6-person crew including: captain Brent Jett, Christopher Ferguson pilot and experts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (single woman), Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, and Steve MacLean (representing the Canadian Space Agency ). For 11 days in space, astronauts will mount P3 / P4 axles equipped with two solar panels. These two frames will provide a quarter of the total energy to the space station after completion.

On the morning of August 5, the payload was transferred to Atlantis, and from August 7 the six astronauts were at Kennedy to train and rehearse. Meanwhile, meteorologists forecast to watch the storm named Chris threatening to land on the east coast of Florida. If the predicted wind speed reaches 127 km / h, Atlantis must " crawl " back to the spacecraft housing.

Bui Thanh Liem