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ZL2TZE > SAREX 12.02.00 04:30l 75 Lines 3262 Bytes #-9448 (0) @ WW
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Subj: [sarex] Shuttle Launch
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To : SAREX@WW
Endeavour Launched on Earth-Mapping Mission
Reuters Photo
By Brad Liston
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour roared off
the launch pad on Friday on a long-delayed radar mapping mission that should
produce the best-ever three-dimensional images of Earth's surface.
The six astronauts on board will spend 11 days in space bouncing radar
signals off cities, fields, mountains, forests and other features that shape
the Earth's surface between the polar regions.
As those signals bounce back into space, they will be collected by antennae
aboard the orbiter and at the end of a 197-foot mast deployed from the
shuttle's cargo bay. It is those slightly off-set images, like the ones seen
in a 3-D movie or picture, that should make this whole-Earth topographical
map the best ever assembled.
NASA had been trying to launch the mission since September, but technical
glitches and safety concerns kept Endeavour grounded. A launch attempt last
week was scrubbed because of cold winds and heavy rain, and mission managers
used the delay to replace a faulty piece of flight hardware that engineers
detected late in the countdown.
``Liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour on a 21st century mission, putting Earth
back on the map,'' said launch commentator Joel Wells as Endeavour sailed
through the clear blue skies above the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It blasted off at 12:43 p.m. Launch managers delayed the liftoff past the
scheduled 12:30 p.m. launch time to check several problems including an
unexplained cabin pressure reading in the crew compartment. Those were
resolved before launch.
Once the astronauts have stowed their spacesuits and configured shuttle
systems for orbit, the first major task will be to deploy the radar mast,
which fully extended will be the longest fixed structure ever to fly in space.
The mission is largely sponsored by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency
(NIMA), which supplies classified satellite and reconnaissance images to U.S.
defense and intelligence agencies.
Most of the best-quality maps generated by Endeavour will remain classified.
Lower resolution maps are to be made available to the public for use by
scientists, civil engineers and commercial interests.
NASA and NIMA have agreed to make the highest-resolution maps of the United
States public, but access to the rest of the 30-meter resolution images will
be restricted and considered on a case-by-case basis, the agencies said.
The international crew, led by commander Kevin Kregel, includes Mamoru Mohri
of NASDA, the Japanese space agency, and Gerhard Thiele, a German with the
European Space Agency.
Dom Gorie is the shuttle pilot and Janice Voss and Janet Kavandi are mission
specialists.
For the mapping operation, expected to last nine days, the astronauts will
form two teams working in alternating 12-hour shifts. Unless problems
develop, all the crew must do is keep the shuttle on course and change the
digital cassettes used to record the data.
In a preflight interview, Thiele said monotony was not a concern.
``As a first-time flier, I just cannot imagine that going into space will
ever be boring,'' he said.
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