Shuttle Program Prepares to Shut Down

The shuttle Atlantis is poised for its final scheduled mission—the delivery of a compact Russian docking and laboratory module to the International Space Station.

Liftoff from Kennedy Space Center is set for May 14 at 2:20 p.m. EDT initiating a 12-day flight.

The spacecraft’s six-man crew has trained to deliver Rassvet, or “Dawn,” a 23-ft.-long compartment that will open a fourth docking port on the orbiting lab for the Russian Soyuz and Progress capsules that will continue to come and go long after Atlantis, then orbiters Discovery and finally Endeavour, complete their final flights by year-end.

During three spacewalks, the crew also will overhaul the station’s oldest solar-power module with new storage batteries and install a backup high-data-rate communications antenna. Other supplies delivered by Atlantis and upgrades planned by the astronauts will prepare the orbital outpost for operations well beyond the shuttle’s retirement.

“It’s a soul-searching moment right now,” says astronaut Ken Ham, the U.S. Navy captain who will command the 25-year-old winged orbiter on its 32nd space voyage.