The Week in Space

May 17-23, 2010

 

Sprucing up the Station Ten years ago this week, the space shuttle Atlantis was launched on a ten-day mission to resupply the International Space Station and boost it into a higher orbit. Seen here, astronauts Jeffrey Williams (bottom) and James Voss work with the newly delivered main boom of the Russian Strela crane, which they later attached to its operator post. The pair also secured a U.S.-built crane that was installed on the station a year earlier, replaced a faulty antenna for one of the station’s communications systems, and installed several handrails on the station’s exterior. The STS-101 mission was also notable because it was the first shuttle mission with a glass cockpit, a new suite of eleven full-color flat-panel displays that replaced thirty-two outdated mechanical cockpit instruments and gauges.

Image credit: NASA



Weekly Calendar

May 17-23, 2010

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 17

1836: Norman Lockyer born

 

Tuesday 18

1969: Apollo 10 launched
1984: Viking 1 lander given to National Air & Space Museum
1996: First test flight of DC-XA rocket
2009: 23rd and final spacewalk to service the Hubble Space Telescope

 

Wednesday 19

1965: Apollo A-003 launched
1996: STS-77 Endeavour launched
2000: STS-101 Atlantis launched

 

Thursday 20

First Quarter Moon 7:43 PM ET
Moon at perigee
Mars 5° north of Moon

1978: Pioneer-Venus 1 launched
1995: Spektr module launched to Mir space station

 

Friday 21

 

Saturday 22

1969: Apollo 10 lunar module descends to within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface

 

Sunday 23

Whit Sunday—Pentecost

Saturn 8° north of Moon

1984: NASA selects 10th astronaut group

 

 


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