Astronauts Prepare for Space Shuttle Launch

The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for liftoff Thursday on an 11-day mission that will deliver a European-made space laboratory to the International Space Station.

Named Columbus, the laboratory will join U.S.- and Russian-made components of the space station. Officials say it has several different work stations to allow for multiple experiments at once. They also say scientists particularly want to explore how extended time in space affects the body, to help prepare astronauts for longer missions.

Two European astronauts will be part of the shuttle crew. They include German Hans Schlegel, who will help install the Columbus lab, and French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who will remain on the International Space Station for the next two-and-a-half months to do further work on the lab.

Officials with the U.S. space agency, NASA, say the weather forecast looks nearly ideal for a launch Thursday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

A Japanese lab, the Kibo, is scheduled for delivery to the space station early next year.

by VOA News

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