Space Shuttle- Tàu con thoi

Space Shuttle- Tàu con thoi

Shuttle program managers unanimously agreed to proceed processing Atlantis for launch on its STS-122 mission to carry the Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station. The poll was taken at the end of a one-day program-level evaluation of the shuttle and its payload. A second review will be conducted Nov. 30, and NASA will formally select a launch date. The mission is targeted for launch Dec. 6. Atlantis last flew in June on the STS-117 mission to the International Space Station. It carried a set of solar arrays and performed magnificently. Atlantis is being prepared now for mission STS-122, which is another construction flight for the space station. Atlantis will connect the Columbus laboratory to the station during an 11-day mission. Columbus was built and outfitted in Italy and Germany and is the European Space Agency's primary contribution to the space station. Shuttles are each a partially reusable launch system composed of three main assemblies: the reusable Orbiter vehicle (OV), the expendable external tank (ET), and the two partially-reusable solid rocket boosters (SRBs). The tank and boosters are jettisoned during ascent; only the orbiter goes into orbit. The vehicle is launched vertically like a conventional rocket, and the orbiter glides to a horizontal landing, after which it is refurbished for reuse. At times, the orbiter itself is referred to as the space shuttle. Technically, this is a misnomer, as the actual "Space Transportation System" (space shuttle) is the combination of the orbiter, the external tank (ET), and the two partially-reusable solid rocket boosters. Combined, these are referred to as the "Stack".