Jul 12 2001
From The Space Library
Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-104/ISS7A lifted off from NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, bound for the ISS. Steven W. Lindsay served as Flight Commander, Charles O. Hobaugh piloted the spacecraft, and Mission Specialists Janet L. Kavandi, Michael L. Gernhardt, and James F. Reilly rounded out the crew. The launch was the first using NASA’s upgraded hydrogen turbopumps in the Shuttle’s three main engines. The pump was the last in a series of Shuttle improvements that NASA had made to reduce maintenance and improve safety of the Shuttle. The mission called for the astronauts to attach the new American-made Joint Airlock to the ISS and to conduct important repairs to the station during three separate spacewalks. The design of the new airlock permitted the ISS crew access to and from space, wearing either Russian or American spacesuits. During the days leading up to the launch, Mission Specialist Michael L. Gernhardt explained: “The term Joint Airlock means that it’s applicable to both the U.S. [space]suit, the EMU Extravehicular Mobility Unit, and to the Russian suit, the Orlan suit. The main objectives of our flight are to install four High Pressure Gas Tanks~ that would be two oxygen, two nitrogen~ to activate and check out the airlock and then to make the first spacewalk from the Joint Airlock and demonstrate the viability of the whole process and sort of usher in the space station era of EVA.” (Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 573, 1 August 2001, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx573.html (accessed 11 August 2008); William Harwood, “Atlantis Heads for Space Station; Crew To Install Airlock, Expanding Capabilities,” Washington Post, 13 July 2001; NASA, “NASA Prepares To Open a New Doorway to Space,” news release 01-138, 9 July 2001.)
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