NASA has cleared Atlantis for a Thursday launch, one month after the last space shuttle flight and a flurry of work since then getting the international space station ready for a new laboratory.
Shuttle managers confirmed the launch date following a daylong meeting Friday.
The fact that Discovery returned from the space station in early November in "almost pristine shape" helped keep Atlantis on track, shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said.
Space station program manager Mike Suffredini said the crew in orbit worked hard over the past three weeks to prepare for the arrival of Atlantis and its primary payload, the European Space Agency's lab module, Columbus. The station astronauts performed three spacewalks to ready the Harmony docking compartment that was delivered on the last shuttle flight.
"It's just incredible to have been so successful with the hardware up to this point," Suffredini said.
Added Hale: "At the end of the day, everyone was comfortable that we're ready to go fly."
NASA has exactly one week in December to get Atlantis off the ground with Columbus. Otherwise, the launch will have to be postponed until early January because of unfavorable sun angles for the docked shuttle and NASA's desire to avoid flying a shuttle at the very end of the year. The concern is that the computer software might not switch over properly to 2008.
NASA hopes that with an on-time launch and power conservation, Atlantis will have enough electricity and supplies to remain at the space station two extra days. That will enable the astronauts to add a fourth spacewalk and perform a detailed inspection of a malfunctioning joint that controls the movement of one set of solar wings.
The rotary joint has been used sparingly ever since steel grit was discovered inside it, by a spacewalking astronaut during the last shuttle visit. NASA still does not know what parts are grinding and causing damage. A spare part for the joint will fly aboard Atlantis, with extra bearings and cleanup tools going up on another shuttle next year.
Suffredini said it will be a major, labor-intensive job to fix and clean the joint, and will not be attempted until next year.
