Atlantis Wraps Up Space Station Job
Space shuttle Atlantis’ astronauts wrapped up their maintenance work inside the international space station Thursday and got ready to seal the complex back up for the next visitors.
One of four newly installed batteries exhibited irregular readings while being charged, but NASA said that the trouble appeared to be a bad communication link and that the battery was fine. All 10 new smoke detectors also were declared to be in good working order.
The only handyman job remaining before the closing of the hatches between the spacecraft, planned for early today, was the replacement of a broken fan. Atlantis and its crew of seven are due to undock from the space station tonight.
One of the crew’s last duties was to provide a third and final boost to the space station, using Atlantis’ steering thrusters. Thursday night’s maneuver raised the station to an orbit 237 miles high.
The lift, conducted over three consecutive nights, left the space station in position to receive Russia’s long-awaited service module in July.
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