‘Window’ for Jupiter Flight Nears
The space shuttle Atlantis and a controversial, nuclear-powered payload will be scheduled for launching next week if NASA officials turn up no problems during a two-day readiness review that began Monday.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration for several months has planned the flight for Oct. 12, officials said. That is the first day of a “launch window” in time, when Earth and Jupiter are aligned properly for sending the Galileo spacecraft to the distant planet. The last day of the window will be Nov. 21.
A firm date for the flight will be announced today after the readiness of the shuttle, the payload, the global tracking network and all other elements has been evaluated.
Atlantis, with a crew of five, is to release Galileo on a six-year journey to Jupiter. When the spacecraft arrives there in 1995, it will fire a scientific probe into the Jovian atmosphere and then orbit the planet for two years of close inspection.
Because Galileo will be powered by two generators that run on plutonium-238, three protest groups last week sued in U.S. District Court in Washington to stop the project.
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