Countdown Begins for Shuttle Atlantis, Jupiter-Bound Probe
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Countdown clocks began ticking today for the planned blastoff Thursday of the shuttle Atlantis, but NASA must win a court battle Tuesday before it will be clear to launch the orbiter and its cargo, a nuclear-powered Jupiter probe.
Anti-nuclear groups have vowed to trespass at the Kennedy Space Center and disrupt the countdown Thursday if a federal judge in Washington refuses to grant a temporary restraining order barring the launch.
The anti-nuclear groups contend that there is a threat of a plutonium release in the event of a launch catastrophe or an inadvertent atmospheric re-entry by the $1.4-billion Galileo probe during either of two Earth flybys.
Meanwhile, Atlantis’ crew--commander Donald Williams, Michael McCulley, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Shannon Lucid and Ellen Baker--were flying in from Houston for final preparations.
If all goes well, they will blast off at 1:29 p.m. (10:29 a.m. PST) Thursday to ferry Galileo into space for a six-year voyage to Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.
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