"Атлантис» сел

Космический корабль Atlantis совершил успешную посадку

Москва. 25 июля. ИНТЕРФАКС - Американский космический
многоразовый корабль Atlantis в 07:39 мск среды совершил посадку
на космодроме на мысе Канаверал (Флорида, США).

В состав экипажа космического корабля входят 5 астронавтов NASA: командир Стивен Линдси (Steven Lindsey), пилот Чарльз Хобах (Charles Hobaugh), специалисты полета Джанет Каванди (Janet Kavandi), Майкл Гернхардт (Michael Gernhardt) и Джеймс Рейлли (James Reilly).

Ранее посадка шаттла была намечена на 08:34 мск вторника, однако ненастная погода в районе мыса Канаверал заставила NASA на сутки отложить возвращение челнока на Землю.

Цель миссии "Атлантиса", стартовавшего 12 июля, заключалась в доставке на Международную космическую станцию (МКС) шлюзового отсека, его установке на боковом стыковочном узле модуля Unity, а также проверке его функционирования. В ходе полета астронавты NASA выполнили для этого три выхода в открытый космос.

Шлюзовой отсек производства компании Boeing предназначен для обеспечения сообщения станции с открытым космосом. Он состоит из отсека для подготовки к выходам в космос и непосредственно шлюзовой камеры, которая служит для выравнивания давления во время выходов. Выходы в космос через новую шлюзовую камеру возможны как в американских, так и в российских скафандрах.

В состав второй основной экспедиции, находящейся в настоящее время на МКС, входят командир российский космонавт Юрий Усачев, а также американские астронавты Джеймс Восс (James Voss) и Сьюзен Хелмс (Susan Helms).

Space Shuttle Returns Safely After 13-Day Mission

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20010725/mdf28454.jpg [not image]Reuters Photo

Audio/Video
Atlantis Arrives Safely - (WKMG, Orlando)

By Broward Liston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Cloaked in the darkness of a hot, muggy Florida night, the space shuttle Atlantis swept through the sky for a perfect landing late on Tuesday to cap a 13-day mission that ended the first phase of construction on the International Space Station (news - web sites).

The approach of the 200-ton orbiter was marked by the whistle of air across its surface, but the spaceplane, which glided to Earth, was invisible to the naked eye until it was directly over the runway lights at the Kennedy Space Center (news - web sites).

The five Atlantis astronauts delivered and installed a new $164 million air lock on the orbiting outpost.

The landing was two days behind schedule.

First, the astronauts had to fix air and coolant leaks on the new 6.5-ton air lock before departing the space station. Then they were put into a holding pattern in Earth orbit for a day as rain closed the shuttle's three-mile runway Monday night.

On Tuesday, the crew was awakened by Mission Control playing the song ``Hold Back The Rain'' by Duran Duran.

Shuttle skipper Steven Lindsey fired the orbiter's engines to bring it out of orbit about an hour before the 11:39 p.m. EDT touchdown.

``It looked like a outstanding landing after an outstanding mission,'' Mission Control radioed the crew.

Lindsey was joined on the Atlantis by pilot Charles Hobaugh, flight engineer Janet Kavandi and mission specialists Michael Gernhardt and James Reilly, who made three spacewalks while installing the air lock.

The three astronauts now living on the space station — Russian Yury Usachev and Americans James Voss and Susan Helms — are to return to Earth next month on the space shuttle Discovery (news - web sites), already on its launch pad in preparation for an Aug. 9 liftoff.

Although the space station is only half finished, this mission marked an important milestone for the $95 billion space station project.

Photos

Reuters Photo


Just one year earlier the station lacked crew quarters and life support. Now it has the interior volume of a three-bedroom house and has hosted two expeditionary crews, which have lived there for months at a time.

Modules will continue to be added and its effectiveness as a laboratory will grow. The addition of the air lock makes it a fully functional space station and brought to an end the first assembly sequence.

Ron Dittemore, NASA (news - web sites)'s space-shuttle program chief, once described this phase of construction as a challenge equal to the Apollo moon landings. Early on Wednesday he said he was pleased with the results.

``If you look back over the past year and the culmination of seven flights in nine months — it's just a tremendous feat for all those involved,'' Dittemore said.