Atlantis to resupply International Space Station

Final Shuttle Mission Continues

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Shuttle Atlantis Launch from Friday

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Continuing coverage of Atlantis mission from NASA TV

WASHINGTON, DC 
Saturday, July 9, 2011

Space Shuttle Atlantis is orbiting today about 200 miles above the Earth, on the second day of a 12-day mission.

The primary purpose of this trip, the 135th and final shuttle mission, is to deliver a module containing 8,640 pounds of supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Today astronauts will ready for their Sunday rendezvous with the space station, including extending the docking ring.  They will also use the shuttle's robotic arm to scan the orbiter's heat shield for any damage it might have sustained during the launch.  It was this type of damage that NASA believes caused the Columbia to break up on re-entry in 2003.

On Sunday, they'll hook up with the ISS and meet the crew of six, readying for the transfer of cargo and supplies.

And on Monday and Tuesday, both the ISS and shuttle crews will prepare to execute a six and a half hour space walk to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing spacecraft and place a failed ammonia pump module in the shuttle's cargo bay for a return trip to Earth. 

If all goes as planned, Atlantis would land back at the Kennedy Space Center early in the morning of July 20th.

Officials say anywhere from 500,000 to one million spectators crowded the Florida coast to watch the launch of Atlantis on Friday.

Atlantis is carrying a four-person crew instead of the regular seven-member team, because there is no back-up shuttle available in the event they need to be rescued from a damaged or disabled spacecraft.  Astronauts would have to be ferried back to Earth on the smaller Russian Soyuzcapsule.

With the shuttle program ending and no immediate plans for another human space flight program, there is rising unemployment in the area around the Kennedy Space Center.  Reuters estimates the shuttle workforce hit a high of about 18,000 in the early 1990s, but will dwindle to only about 1,000 workers on the shuttle program payroll by the end of August 2011.

Updated: Friday at 7:32pm (ET)