Shuttle Atlantis Cleared for Launch April 28 With Robot Venus Probe
The space shuttle Atlantis was cleared Friday for blastoff April 28 on a mission to launch a sophisticated robot probe to the planet Venus.
Rear Adm. Richard H. Truly, nominated by President Bush to be NASA’s next administrator, announced the formal launch date after a two-day flight readiness review.
“While we have much work to do and little contingency time, we have established an April 28 launch date,” said Truly, who chaired the readiness review process.
About six hours after Atlantis is launched, astronauts aboard the shuttle will deploy the Magellan probe, which will continue on a 15-month voyage to Venus, where it is scheduled to map at least 90% of the planet’s surface.
At launch pad 39B on Friday, engineers worked to install heat shields around Atlantis’ three liquid-fueled main engines. If the work goes as scheduled, engineers plan to pressurize the shuttle’s on-board fuel tanks today.
The shuttle’s crew members--commander David Walker, co-pilot Ronald Grabe and Mary Cleave, Mark Lee and Norman Thagard--face a busy schedule of flight simulations and reviews in the final days leading up to liftoff.
“Everything from this point in is just refinement and proficiency training,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokesman Jeff Carr said at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
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