Geek Habitat

The Space Shuttle Atlantis is launching as soon as ten days from now for STS-115. This will be a very significant mission, primarily because it adds two long-overdue new solar arrays and truss segments (the “building blocks” of the International Space Station) — hardware that was originally scheduled to be assembled in April 2003. Sadly, the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia during re-entry on STS-107 in January 2003, delayed all Shuttle flights and curtailed NASA human spaceflight for over a year and a half.

First Launch Attempt: Sunday, August 27, 2006 (4:30 PM ET)