T-38 jets bring STS-117 crew to Kennedy for Friday's launch

William Atkins
Tuesday, 05 June 2007 21:09

Science - Space

The launch of STS-117 can be viewed live on NASA TV beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT with a scheduled lift-off at 7:38 p.m.

The T-38 jets are used widely in the U.S. Air Force and by NASA for its astronauts. The astronauts fly them, normally, from the Johnson Space Center (in Clear Lake City, near Houston, Texas), where they train for Space Shuttle and International Space Station missions, to the Kennedy Space Center (Florida), where they are launched into space.

Once produced by the Northrop Corporation, the T-38 jets are also used by the Portuguese Air Force and the Turkish Air Force. The maiden flight of the T-38 occurred on March 10, 1959 and was operationally introduced in 1961.

At 7:38 p.m. EDT, the STS-117 mission will begin with the launching of the Space Shuttle Atlantis from Launch Pad 39A. The eleven-day mission will be the 21st NASA mission to the International Space Station (ISS). STS-117 is the 118th shuttle flight for NASA.

The STS-117 crew includes commander Frederick Sturckow, pilot Lee Archambault, ISS Expedition 15/16 flight engineer Clayton C. Anderson, and mission specialists James Reilly II, Steven Swanson, Patrick Forrester, and John D. Olivas,

International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 14/15 flight engineer Sunita L. Williams will return to the Earth from the ISS aboard Atlantis with the STS-117 crew. ISS expedition 15/16 flight engineer Clayton C. Anderson will replace Williams. He will return to the Earth aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-120.

The crew will deliver the second and third starboard truss segments (S3/S4) to the Space Station, along with a pair of solar arrays. Atlantis and crew will return to the Earth on June 19, 2007 with a scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

For more information about the STS-117 mission and crew (including profiles on each member of the crew), go to the NASA website “Mission Information: STS-117”.