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STS-122: The mission

Atlantis' trip to the station will deliver the European Space Agency's Columbus science lab module.

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STS-122: The programs

Managers from the shuttle, station and EVA programs discuss Atlantis' upcoming flight.

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STS-122: Spacewalks

Three spacewalks are planned during Atlantis' STS-122 assembly mission. Lead spacewalk officer Anna Jarvis previews the EVAs.

 Full briefing
 EVA 1 summary
 EVA 2 summary
 EVA 3 summary

The Atlantis crew

The astronauts of Atlantis' STS-122 mission meet the press in the traditional pre-flight news conference.

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Harmony's big move

The station's new Harmony module is detached from the Unity hub and moved to its permanent location on the Destiny lab.

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Delta 4-Heavy launch

The first operational Delta 4-Heavy rocket launches the final Defense Support Program missile warning satellite for the Air Force.

 Full coverage

Columbus readied

The European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory module moves to pad 39A and placed aboard shuttle Atlantis for launch.

 To pad | Installed

Station port moved

The station crew uses the robot arm to detach the main shuttle docking port and mount it to the new Harmony module Nov. 12.

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Atlantis rolls out

Space shuttle Atlantis rolls from the Vehicle Assembly Building to pad 39A for its December launch with the Columbus module.

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Atlantis goes vertical

Atlantis is hoisted upright and maneuvered into position for attachment to the external tank and boosters.

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Astronauts enjoying bonus day added to their mission
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: February 16, 2008

The Atlantis astronauts and their space station crewmates are working through an extension day in orbit today, concentrating on work to activate the European Columbus science laboratory. Atlantis commander Steve Frick plans to oversee a reboost operation this morning, firing Atlantis' rocket thrusters to increase the station's altitude, and the combined crews will hold a joint news conference at 8:40 a.m. to discuss the progress of the flight.

"As you can expect, anytime you move to a new location or, in this case, the new location is added to your existing home, you've got a lot of unpacking to do," said space station Flight Director Ron Spencer. "In this case, a lot of that is science equipment (in the Columbus module). So the crew is still setting up the science equipment and checking out the instruments, making sure the computers can command to the instruments and that they function properly in anticipation of firing these up for science activities as soon as the shuttle leaves.

Atlantis' mission was extended two days, once to replan a spacewalk and then to give the crew additional time to commission Columbus. Today is the second extension day and the crew will spend part of its day setting up science racks in the new lab module.

"These activities were scheduled for next week after the shuttle had left, so we're getting significantly ahead in the timeline," Spencer said. "They should be able to start doing science operations a lot earlier than we'd originally planned inside the Columbus module. So even though we added two extra days to the mission, we're really getting a lot more ... because of the fast pace of the crew's work."

In addition to the Columbus outfitting, the shuttle crew plans to fire Atlantis' rocket thrusters for 36 minutes starting just before 7:20 a.m. to boost the station's altitude.

"We're also going to transfer some of the extra oxygen from the space shuttle to the space station to help fill up our tanks so that we can support additional spacewalks after the shuttle leaves," Spencer said.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes revision J of the NASA television schedule):


EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/16/08
02:45 AM...08...12...00...Crew wakeup
04:45 AM...08...14...00...ISS daily planning conference
05:00 AM...08...14...15...Columbus outfitting continues
05:15 AM...08...14...30...Flight director update on NASA TV
05:55 AM...08...15...10...Spacewalk tools deconfigured
07:16 AM...08...16...31...Reboost operations
08:40 AM...08...17...55...Crew news conference
09:20 AM...08...18...35...Joint crew photo
09:40 AM...08...18...55...Logistics transfers
09:40 AM...08...18...55...Post-spacewalk transfers
10:00 AM...08...19...15...Crew conference replay with translation
10:50 AM...08...20...05...Joint crew meal
11:50 AM...08...21...05...Logistics transfers
11:50 AM...08...21...05...Crew off-duty time begins
01:00 PM...08...22...15...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
05:15 PM...09...02...30...ISS crew sleep begins
05:45 PM...09...03...00...STS crew sleep begins
06:00 PM...09...03...15...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV
The reboost operation will raise the space station's altitude and help set up the proper rendezvous and docking conditions for the next assembly mission, a flight by the shuttle Endeavour that is scheduled for launch March 11. An additional reboost is planned after Atlantis departs, using Russian thrusters on the station, to fine-tune the orbit in preparation for Endeavour's rendezvous and an upcoming Soyuz docking with a fresh station crew.

"It may seem like everything's weightless up there in space and it'll stay up there forever, but really there's still (atmospheric) drag going on and over many months, the space station's orbit ends up getting lower and lower," Spencer said. "And so we have to reboost it occasionally to keep it in orbit.

"So a lot of the shuttle missions, we'll take advantage of their extra gas before they leave to do that and then when the shuttle's not there, we'll use the Russian propellant to do that. But we like to save as much of that as possible, so we make use of the shuttle's extra resources. That's what we're doing today."

Atmospheric drag is responsible for the slow decay of the orbit of a crippled U.S. spy satellite that is plunging back to Earth. The U.S. Navy is finalizing plans to fire a missile at the satellite in an attempt to break it up and disperse its load of toxic hydrazine rocket fuel to prevent any possible ground contamination.

The dramatic shoot-down will not be attempted until after Atlantis lands. The shuttle is scheduled to return to Florida on Wednesday and NASA officials announced Friday that the agency also will staff its backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to "ensure we land at the earliest opportunity. The reason is to give the military the biggest possible window and maximum flexibility to ensure the success of the satellite intercept."

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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 5 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: COLUMBUS MODULE HOISTED OUT OF SHUTTLE BAY PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF COLUMBUS' ATTACHMENT PLAY
VIDEO: OVERVIEW ANIMATION OF COLUMBUS MODULE PLAY
VIDEO: GUIDED TOUR OF ATLANTIS' PAYLOAD BAY PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF TODAY'S SPACEWALK PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: SUNDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: POST-MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE ATLANTIS DOCKS TO SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS PERFORMS THE 360-DEGREE BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: VIEWS OF THE SHUTTLE APPROACHING FROM BELOW PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS COMPLETES THE "TI" BURN PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF THE DOCKING PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: HEAT SHIELD INSPECTIONS EXPLAINED PLAY

VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-1 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-2 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-6 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: WEST TOWER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: FRONT CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 009 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 049 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 050 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 051 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 054 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 060 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 070 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 071 PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF ATLANTIS' LAUNCH PREPS PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: NASA AND ESA POST-LAUNCH NEWS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: FULL LENGTH LAUNCH MOVIE! PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS BLASTS OFF WITH COLUMBUS PLAY
VIDEO: POLLS GIVE THE FINAL "GO" TO LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS QUARTERS FOR LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DON THEIR SPACESUITS FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: RUSSIAN CARGO SHIP DOCKS TO STATION THIS MORNING PLAY
VIDEO: PAD GANTRY ROLLED BACK THE NIGHT BEFORE LAUNCH PLAY

VIDEO: COLUMBUS AND ATV OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY MORNING'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY'S CARGO SHIP UNDOCKING FROM STATION PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS' PAYLOAD BAY DOORS CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY
VIDEO: CREW RETURNS TO KENNEDY SPACE CENTER FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY MORNING'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: POST-FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: STS-122 ASTRONAUT BIOGRAPHIES PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED OVERVIEW OF ATLANTIS' MISSION PLAY
VIDEO: INSIGHTS INTO COLUMBUS SCIENCE LABORATORY PLAY
VIDEO: STS-122 MISSION OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: BRIEFING ON THE SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: CREW'S PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH STEVE FRICK PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH ALAN POINDEXTER PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH LELAND MELVIN PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH REX WALHEIM PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH HANS SCHLEGEL PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH STANLEY LOVE PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW WITH LEOPOLD EYHARTS PLAY
MORE: STS-122 VIDEO COVERAGE
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