Houston, Texas
After months of delays due to weather and equipment woes, the space shuttle Atlantis blasted off safely last week and docked with the international space station orbiting 220 miles above Earth. The crew then unloaded their main cargo, a 17-ton addition to the space station, fitted with two panels to collect solar energy. During a six-hour space walk, astronauts Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper connected the new section’s power and data cables to the space station. The hookup was successful, but the astronauts lost a bolt, washer, and spring while they worked, and NASA expressed concern that the debris could tear holes in the spacecraft or in the astronauts’ protective suits. Two more space walks are planned during the 11-day flight. The space lab’s construction had been on hold since the Columbia disaster more than three years ago.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Netherlands split on WFH for sex workersSpeed Read Councils concerned over 'nuisance' of at-home sex work, but others say changes will curb underground sex trade
-
'He adored Trump, and then rejected him'Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
-
The Thursday Murder Club: who's in the film and what we can expectSpeed Read Author Richard Osman reveals starry cast set to play his 'septuagenarian sleuths'
