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Clouds Part For Liftoff Of Atlantis

Tribune photo by GREG FIGHT

Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.

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By KURT LOFT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 7, 2008

CAPE CANAVERAL – Mother Nature must be a fan of the U.S. space program, judging from her benevolence in pushing aside bad weather long enough for seven astronauts to roar into orbit.

An approaching storm front threatened today's 2:45 p.m. liftoff, and at one point NASA gave a dismal 30 percent chance of getting shuttle Atlantis off the pad. But today's weather proved delightfully fickle for the launch team, surprising even the stone-faced Air Force meteorologists at Kennedy Space Center.

Now safely in orbit, the crew will spend 11 days adding another segment to the world's most ambitious orbiting construction project, the $100 billion International Space Station. The goal: Install a 10-ton beer can to the side of the station. Built by the European Space Agency, the Columbus module is a high-tech, $5 billion contraption that marks a big part of the "international" aspect of the station.

Columbus is the cornerstone of Europe's involvement with the U.S. in orbit, with more than 500 scientists committed to remote science projects conducted from the control center outside of Munich, Germany.

"So in European terms, this is a pretty big deal," said Clare Mattok, an ESA spokeswoman.

If all goes according to plan, German astronaut Hans Schlegel will do three spacewalks to help install and power up the laboratory. Once hooked up, the new module will make the station more than 60 percent complete. NASA must finish assembling the station before retiring its shuttles in 2010.

Today's countdown clicked away without any technical glitches, including suspect engine cutoff sensors, or ECOs, that monitor the flow of fuel from the shuttle's 500,000-gallon tank. Faulty sensors halted the first launch attempt in December, and engineers spent much of the past two months troubleshooting the problem.

Columbus will be followed next month with its massive Japanese counterpart, the Kibo lab, further generating an international partnership in orbit.

Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at (813) 259-7570 or kloft@tampatrib.com.

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