Space Shuttle Begins Mission to Study Earth’s Atmosphere

The space shuttle Atlantis roared into orbit with seven astronauts Tuesday on a mission that NASA officials said should provide the most thorough look yet at Earth’s atmosphere, including the fragile ozone layer.

Once in orbit, the crew quickly turned on scientific equipment in the cargo bay and began more than a week’s worth of research. One by one, the instruments clicked on and began sending back data.

Scientists on the ground were “quite happy, eager and ready to go to work,” said Harry Craft, manager of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s payload project office.

Dozens of Belgians, including two nephews of Belgium’s King Baudouin, gathered to see the shuttle off with the first Belgian to fly in space, Dirk Frimout.

The eight-day flight is the first of 46 shuttle missions dedicated to atmospheric research. All but one of the 13 scientific instruments in the cargo bay are studying Earth.

Frimout and three other scientists aboard the shuttle will operate two of the instruments, an electron-beam gun for generating artificial auroras and a camera to record the atmosphere’s colorful response to the beams. Ground controllers are managing the other instruments.

Scientists are especially interested in the ozone layer, which is being eaten by man-made pollutants. The stratospheric layer protects Earth from dangerous ultraviolet rays from the sun.