FMC 3.0

So I’m sure you’ve seen the news that Steve Irwin has gone on to the big wildlife preserve in the sky. Ok, yeah, it sucks that he died. But let’s be realistic here, who can say they were all that surprised? Granted, it is a freak accident that he got his heart pierced in the first place, but he was swimming with Sting Rays while on a break from filming a special called “Ocean’s Deadliest.” As I’ve said all day long, the countdown was ticking. You can only tempt Fate so long before Fate gives in.

Atlantis is scheduled to go up just after noon Wednesday. It’ll be an interesting launch, having been delayed by a tropical storm and lightning hitting the launch pad. NASA actually rolled Atlantis away from the pad, and then back to it. Usually it takes 8 days to prep a Shuttle once it reaches the pad, but the tight timetable to get to the ISS means they’re doing it in six. Why the rush? Atlantis has to be done with construction and undocked with the ISS by the 17th - the next Russian Soyuz mission blasts off from Khazakstan on the 18th. What’s Atlantis installing? Support trusses and Solar panels for the next round of additions. It’ll double the power capacity in preparation of the science labs that will go up next. Atlantis is fearing up 17 tons of stuff. This mission has been in the pipe for three and a half years - it was the next up with Columbia came down in 2003. Better late then never. It’ll be interesting to see how well things go this accelerated, considering the rush NASA will be in get all the pieces of the ISS up by 2010.