Atlantis Astronauts Chase After International Space Station

The Atlantis astronauts are chasing down the International Space Station today after a spectacular launch Friday from Kennedy Space Center.

Flying in an orbit 130 miles above Earth, Atlantis is lapping the Earth about three miles an hour faster than the station, which is circling 220 miles above the planet. A series of rocket firings over the next day will raise the orbit of Atlantis in advance of a rendezvous and docking the station at 10:27 a.m. Sunday.

The latest in that series just took place. The shuttle's right-hand Orbital Maneuvering System engine was fired for 10 seconds, generating 6,000 pounds of thrust. The burst boosted the speed of the spaceship by about 5.4 miles per hour. The rocket firing, which raised the apogee and perigee of the ship's orbit by about a mile each, combined two previously planned burns for efficiency.

Some rocket firings during the final phases of rendezvous on Sunday might be tweaked a bit if the nearly 900,000-pound station executes a burn later today to avoid a piece of space junk that could come close to the outpost. Flight controllers are tracking the unidentified piece of debris and a decision on whether to proceed with an avoidance maneuver will be made later today. If required, the firing of an engine on a Russian Progress space freighter docked at the station would lower the altitude of the station by a little less than a half-mile.

The crew was awakened about 4:20 a.m. today with the song "You're My Home" by Billy Joel. It was played for mission commander Ken Ham, who is making his second spaceflight.

The big chore of the day is just getting under way. The astronauts used the shuttle's 50-foot robot arm to latch on to an equally lengthy extension boom that is tipped with laser and television sensors. An extensive inspection of the shuttle's reinforced carbon carbon nose cap and wing panels will be performed to determine whether any damage was done during the launch Friday. The inspection will take a little more than six hours to complete.

IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the NASA TV screen grab. It shows the view from Atlantis as the shuttle and its six astronauts passed 130 miles over the Sinai Peninsula earlier today.