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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 08, 2002

US Launches Space Shuttle Atlantis

After six weeks of delay, US space shuttle Atlantis was launched on Monday afternoon, beginning a 11-day mission to ferry new equipment to the International Space Station.


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US Launches Space Shuttle Atlantis
After six weeks of delay, US space shuttle Atlantis was launched on Monday afternoon, beginning a 11-day mission to ferry new equipment to the International Space Station.

The launch at 3:46 EDT (1946 GMT) at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, is the US space NASA's first human space flight mission since it grounded the fleet of space shuttles in June following the discovery of cracks in the propulsion system of all four of the vehicles.

Atlantis should have lift off in August, but the crack problem and then last week Hurricane Lili further delayed its launch.

NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, was unprecedentedly powered down last week due to the projected path of Hurricane Lili. The control of the International Space Station was transferred to the Mission Control Center in Moscow, Russia and later transferred back to Houston after the threat of the hurricane passed.

With six astronauts on board, Atlantis is to carry a new segment onto the orbiting International Space Station. Known as S-1 Truss, the 13.7-meter-long, 15 ton aluminum structure is the second of 11 segments that will ultimately expand the space station to the length of a football.

The crew will perform three spacewalks to install and activate S-1 and will transfer supplies and equipment between the two spacecrafts.

Atlantis is scheduled to return to earth on Oct. 18.


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