Filed under: Higher Education, K-12, Links to Other Resources, NASA, STEM, Webcasts | Tags: Space Launch, Kennedy Space Center, Space Shuttle Launch, Videos, STS-117
Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch on Friday, June 8, 2007. During the 11-day mission and three spacewalks, Atlantis’ crew will install a new set of solar arrays on the starboard side of the station. These arrays will be a mirror image of those installed on the port side in September, and like the crew that installed the port arrays, the STS-117 crew will be in charge of unfolding the arrays and preparing them to track the sun and generate power.
Along with Sturckow, the crew includes Pilot Lee Archambault and mission specialists Patrick Forrester, Steven Swanson, John “Danny” Olivas, Jim Reilly and Clay Anderson, who will launch on the shuttle but remain on the station to begin a long-duration flight. Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Suni Williams, who has been aboard the station since December 2006, will return home on Atlantis.
OMSI will offer space exploration enthusiasts a front row seat to watch NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-117 launch into space Friday, June 8 at 4:00 p.m. for the 4:38 p.m. PDT launch and flight to the International Space Station. OMSI will be showing the lift-off in the planetarium live via satellite on NASA TV. Admission for the televised launch is free after paid museum admission. Please note that the shuttle liftoff date and time is subject to change by NASA.
You can also watch the launch at home on NASA TV. Streaming video coverage of launch preparations, countdown, liftoff, and mission details can be watched with your web browser at the following link:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
For more information about the STS-117 mission, including images and interviews with the crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
The shuttle will orbit at about 240 miles above the planet. A spacecraft will be seen as a steady white pinpoint of light moving slowly across the sky. Sighting times are subject to change by NASA. There will be sighting opportunities, weather permitting, of both space shuttle Atlantis and ISS from the Portland area during the mission. Find out more at these links:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.asp?lat=45.524&lng=-122.675&alt=0&loc=Portland&TZ=PST&satid=25544
