Credit: NASAAs of the time of this writing, STS-122, on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis, is five and one-half days into a planned 12-day mission. The primary objective for STS-122 is to install the ESA's Columbus Laboratory on to the International Space Station, which, the Minister, is happy to report, has been a success so far to date. One of the other objectives for this flight is that Flight Engineer Daniel M. Tani of Expedition 16 will be returning home to Earth, with his place being taken by Léopold Eyharts, of France. Atlantis is currently scheduled to return to Earth next Tuesday, February 19th.
In the above image, the Columbus Laboratory sits in Atlantis' payload bay (the large grey object with the "ESA" sign). Also visible are the vertical stabilizer, the orbital maneuvering system (OMS) pods and, of course, the Earth. This photo was taken on February 8th, the second day of the flight, by an STS-122 crewmember.
No comments:
Post a Comment