Space station prepares for visitors from Earth

By ANNE BESTON and agencies

The Expedition Four crew on the International Space Station are due to welcome visitors from the shuttle Atlantis today.

After a four-day delay caused by a hydrogen leak on the launch pad, Atlantis roared into orbit from the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday.

It carried four crew - including the 412th, 413th and 414th people to leave Earth since human space exploration began.

The other crew member is mission specialist Jerry Ross, making a record-breaking seventh trip into space.

At the time of the launch, the space station was orbiting almost 400km above Earth. It passed directly over the launch pad a few minutes before the shuttle blasted into space.

The space station's Expedition Four crew of Yuri Onufrienko, Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, who have been living on the space outpost since December, could possibly have seen the shuttle climbing toward them.

After lift-off, Atlantis had a two-day chase to catch up to and dock with the station.

The Atlantis crew's job is to install a US$600 million ($1371 million) truss that will eventually carry four giant solar arrays, or panels.

They will give the station enough power to propel a US$190 million ($434 million) Canadian-built rail car, which will roll along tracks and carry the station's robotic crane to various work sites to install equipment and help space-walking astronauts make repairs.

After installation, the truss, which will be added to over the next two years, will form a rigid beam longer than a football field.

It has been described as a space walker's playground, and has more than 150 astronaut hand-holds.

Four spacewalks in six days will be needed to fasten the truss securely to the station and wire it up.

Atlantis is due to undock from the International Space Station on Wednesday and return to Earth two days later.

Space.com

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