Shuttle chases down space station

By Richard Stenger (CNN)

Launch view from shuttlecam mounted on Atlantis' external fuel tank

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(CNN) -- The space shuttle Atlantis closed in on the international space station on Tuesday, preparing for a weeklong rendezvous with the orbiting outpost.

Atlantis is carrying a $390 million girder that shuttle astronauts will attach to the station during three spacewalks, each expected to last more than six hours.

The two spacecraft should link up Wednesday shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET. The first spacewalk is slated to begin about 23 hours later.

The primary Atlantis payload is a 45-foot-long (14-meter) metal truss, loaded with 15 miles (24 kilometers) of wiring, several radiators and a rail cart, which spacewalking astronauts will use on future space station construction jobs.

On Tuesday, the shuttle crew of five Americans and one Russian were to begin checking their equipment, including spacesuits and the shuttle's robotic arm, which will hoist the 15-ton truss from Atlantis' payload pay.

The shuttle, which lifted off Monday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is the first to fly since June when the entire fleet was grounded for engine fuel line repairs.

The launch was originally slated for early July. But shuttle managers delayed the flight six weeks as NASA technicians repaired hairline engine fuel line cracks in all four orbiters.

The 11-day flight was rescheduled for last week, but suffered another delay when Hurricane Lili threatened to drench Mission Control in Houston, Texas.

The crew includes shuttle commander Jeffrey Ashby, making his third space flight; David Wolf, a medical doctor and former occupant of the retired Mir Space Station; and Piers Sellers, an ecologist from Britain making his first trip into orbit.

The Atlantis fliers will be the first visitors for the current space station residents, one American and two Russians, who arrived at the modular outpost the first week of June.

Station astronaut Peggy Whitson and cosmonauts Sergei Treschev and Valery Korzun have shifted their sleep schedules to prepare for their guests.

The trio will certainly welcome the shuttle crew, who packed away fresh oranges, grapefruit and other goodies from home for their hosts.

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