Space Shuttle Status Report 23 Jan 2001

MISSION: STS-98 – 7th ISS Flight (5A) – U.S. Laboratory

VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104

LOCATION: Vehicle Assembly Building high bay 3 TARGET KSC LAUNCH

DATE/TIME: No earlier than Feb. 6, 2001 at 6:37 p.m. EST TARGET KSC

LANDING DATE/TIME: Feb. 17, 2001 at 2:05 p.m. EST LAUNCH WINDOW: less than 5 minutes

MISSION DURATION: 10 days, 19 hours and 28 minutes CREW: Cockrell, Polansky, Curbeam, Jones, Ivins

ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 177 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

Shuttle Processing Note: The rollout of Space Shuttle Atlantis is now scheduled to begin Friday at 7 a.m. After reducing the humidity in the work area yesterday, technicians successfully completed electrical retests on seven remaining solid rocket booster (SRB) cables last night. This additional work delayed the start of solid rocket booster close-out efforts and led to the shift in rollout dates.

With cable testing now complete, technicians are installing the systems tunnel covers and SRB close-outs are in work. The Shuttle Interface Test begins this afternoon and continues through Wednesday morning. On Thursday, workers will remove work platforms in the VAB and prepare the Space Shuttle for rollout to Launch Pad 39A.

KSC managers do not expect these work schedule changes to affect the current launch date of no earlier than Feb. 6.