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At 6:11 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday the Space Shuttle Atlantis delivered its' “Destiny.” Despite a three-week delay, the shuttle soared into the colors of dusk with little complication. Two minutes into the flight there was a collective sigh of relief when the twin Solid Rocket Booster’s (SRB) separated from the shuttle. This comes four weeks after the entire space shuttle fleet was found to have defects in critical parts of the SRB system.
On Saturday, payload specialist Marsha Ivins had the difficult task of connecting Destiny to the ISS. Because of the position of Atlantis, she had only a few camera views of the process and no real line of vision. Spacewalkers, Tom Jones and Robert Curbeam, floated near Destiny to aid Ivins with verbal cues. The shuttle’s robot arm, guided by Ivins, slowly and precisely docked Destiny to the module Unity. The process took about two hours. Jones and Curbeam, after assisting with the docking, immediately began to connect several data, coolant, and power cables between Destiny and the rest of the space station. A scary situation occurred when ammonia leaked from a coolant cable that was being connected by Curbeam. The ammonia instantly froze when it became exposed to space. In moments, a snowflake like field of debris surrounded the entire Destiny module. Curbeam quickly connected the pesky cable and stopped the leak. Mission Control, however, became concerned at Curbeam’s exposure to the frozen ammonia. They were worried that he might have pieces of this toxic chemical stuck to his suit. Although Jones said that he didn’t see anything on his spacesuit, Curbeam floated in the direct light of the sun for a few moments to vaporize any of the frozen chemical. When the spacewalkers returned to Atlantis after a successful day, fellow astronauts inside wore emergency air masks until they were certain that the shuttle’s cabin had not become contaminated. With the addition of Destiny, the crew of the ISS has gained a little more living space and an important tool for scientific research. The module is 28 feet long and 14 feet in diameter. It is expected to become a place of great discovery in fields such as medicine, biology, and micro-gravity research. Despite supporting the development of many commercial applications, it will also aid earth observations. The module has a 20-inch window that has been touted as optically the sharpest and clearest window ever put into space. In a few months, the module will be furbished with the Human Research Facility. This “laboratory in a box” will allow astronauts to conduct experiments in psychological evaluation and radiation experiments. In 2002, future Shuttle missions will deliver the Micro-gravity Science Glovebox, the Window Research Facility and the Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer. These experiments will help scientists around the world develop cures for diseases, and teach humans how to live in the prolonged environment of space. One can only hope that this type of research will lead a path to a manned mission to Mars. Over time, Destiny will house up to 13 different research racks. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Atlantis Delivers Destiny in Space Exploration is owned by b.w. white. Permission to republish Atlantis Delivers Destiny in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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