Intend to view Atlantis’ launch? View ISS Status!

If you intend to view Atlantis’ December, 6th STS-122 launch, be sure to follow international space station (IIS) and STS-120 status updates. While there is everything going very well with space shuttle processing at Kennedy Space Center, Constraints come in from the orbiting laboratory. Most importantly, the solar array rip could prevent enough electricity to be generated by the complex to add the Columbus module (the primary payload for STS-122). It there isn’t enough power for Columbus, there is no point in bringing it up. So NASA can only launch Atlantis if the station is ready.

This is also the reason why NASA has prioritized solar array repair over all other STS-120 tasks. Getting them in a stable condition is absolutely vital for the health of the whole station program.