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| S P E C I A L | CNN In-Depth: - Space |
NASA aims for on-time launch of space shuttle Columbia
November 19, 1997
Web posted at: 8:34 a.m. EST (1334 GMT)CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- NASA hopes to continue its streak of on-time space shuttle launches with another liftoff of Columbia on a long science mission Wednesday afternoon.
The one thing beyond NASA's control -- the weather -- seemed to be leaning in the space agency's favor. Forecasters said there was a better-than-even chance of acceptable conditions for an afternoon launch. An optimistic NASA began fueling the shuttle before daybreak.
During the 16-day flight, Columbia's international crew of six will release a solar observatory and retrieve it two days later, conduct a practice spacewalk that was canceled last year because of a stuck hatch, and grow plants and crystals.
The first experiment will occur a mere six minutes into flight.
In a space shuttle first, Columbia will flip 180 degrees while zooming toward orbit at about Mach 13, or 13 times the speed of sound.
The twist is designed to put the shuttle in radio contact with communication satellites, necessary because of the impending shutdown of NASA's Bermuda tracking station to save money.
It will be NASA's eighth and final shuttle launch of 1997 and the 24th flight for NASA's oldest shuttle. NASA last flew eight missions in a single year in 1992. What makes it more impressive this time is that the shuttle program has less money and fewer people because of government budget cuts.
Astronauts to test equipment during spacewalk
Shuttle managers, eager to fly even more missions per year, attribute this year's achievements to better-than-ever efficiency.
Of the seven previous shuttle launches this year, five went off at the exact second on the exact day. One was delayed 12 minutes, the other one day. All in all, it's one of NASA's best showings ever, even though one mission was cut short by fuel-cell trouble and had to be reflown by Columbia.
The highlight of this mission almost certainly will be the spacewalk.
Five days into the flight, NASA astronaut Winston Scott and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi will float out into the open cargo bay to test an extendible crane and other equipment to be used on the future international space station. Hovering over their shoulders will be a free-flying, ball-shaped robotic camera making its space debut.
The crane and other construction tools were supposed to be used by two other astronauts last November, but a stuck hatch on Columbia prevented them from going outside.
"What happened is probably the world's oldest problem with machinery -- a screw backed out and lodged in the gearing," Scott said in a news conference last week. "We've put captive bolts in now and sealed them such that we won't have that problem again."
Doi will become the first Japanese to conduct a spacewalk. Other firsts once Columbia lifts off: first Ukrainian to fly on a U.S. spacecraft and first Indian-born woman in space.
Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Related stories:
- Bad weather could delay shuttle launch - November 18, 1997
- Countdown begins for Wednesday shuttle launch - November 16, 1997
- Shuttle Atlantis back on Earth - October 6, 1997
- Shuttle landing postponed until Monday - October 5, 1997
- Shuttle Atlantis to touch down Sunday evening - October 5, 1997
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